Apology for Breathing, A.J Liebling

I am amused by Liebling’s style of writing. He critiques New York City as if it’s nobody’s business. I think that this piece works in many areas because of the way Liebling introduces his topics and explains what he wants to say. “New York women are the most beautiful in the world. They have their teeth straightened in early youth… The climate is extremely healthy”. I noticed that he doesn’t say the people were healthy but later states that, “the average life expectancy is so high that one of our morning newspapers specializes in interviewing people a hundred years old and upward.” (18). This is valid because the life expectancy for New York City has increased causing people to have to delay their retiring age to 65+ and even though some people are past the expected age that they can retire they refuse to stop working. This is New York City in the year 2013.

“It is a distinction for a child in New York to be the brightest on one block, he acquires no exaggerated idea of his own relative intelligence.” (18). This is true because people push their kids to achieve all they can. New York City is made up of more immigrants and parents who are trying to make ends meet and want to give their children a better education so that they won’t have to struggle as much as them. This made a lot of sense to me when reading it because this ideas of, a “dream” for a brighter future still exists today.

Liebling also says, “It takes a real one to keep renewing itself until the past is perennially forgotten.” For some reason this doesn’t work for me in this piece because is statement reminded me of having a specific memory. For instance, 9/11 occurred a few years ago but it is still a topic that will keep a presence in our history. I don’t think that it would take “a real one” to forget such a tragic event but a real one to remember. I guess what he’s saying is that because of all our revolutions that we “New Yorkers” prefer to discuss the most recent.