The City That Never Sleeps:

    "It's a call," My friend told me, when I asked her why this city draws me to it the
 way that it does. "Some people feel it, and some people don't," she said. I think I
 laughed, but she was serious… and she was right. What is it about Manhattan
 Island? Is it the dirty streets, pollution, crowded sidewalks and subways that
 attract me?  I know now, it is all these things and more…
    Never did I feel like a visitor as I walked the crowded sidewalks of New York; it
 simply felt familiar, as if I had been there before and never known it. Thousands
 of miles away from home, I felt at home, breathing the moist air, rushing along
 with the crowds of people who seemed to always be in a hurry to get wherever
 they were going - and they were always going somewhere important. 
    I learned the art of crossing streets, weaving through cars that never seemed to
 stop beeping at whatever got in their way… I learned that daytime stretches far
 into the night, that sleeping is optional, and that you never run out of new things to
 do. 
    In a diner one night, I told a friend of my new discovery: That in New York, it
 doesn't matter how different you are, because everyone's different, and New
 York is like Arby's - "Different Is Good!" Of course, he laughed, because he'd
 known that all along. But even though everyone is drastically different, you can
 always find a few souls among the millions of people who are like you and
 understand you. 
    I quickly learned that everything is expensive in New York… I slowly learned
 that it's easy for life to become cheap, therefore, strong will and firm beliefs are
 not something you can go without.
    Although, in my eyes, Manhattan is the most wonderful place in the world, for
 some people it can be the worst. Sadness was a rare feeling for me during the
 magical time I spent there, but it penetrated every part of me when I suddenly
 realized that, though I thought I was freezing, other people truly were. 
 Men, women and children living in boxes, with nothing but a few ragged layers of
 dirty clothing and trash bags to keep the warm, turned up every now and then.
 And though I saw many people ignore them, I saw many who turned sad eyes on
 these scenes, people who never quite got used to seeing such poverty and
 hopelessness, but did not know how to help. 
    True, it seems like this city is aptly nicknamed, and is it any wonder? With so
 much to do, so much to worry about, so much to be happy about, and so little
 time… who could sleep? 
    I remember vividly one night, walking out of the oppressive cold and into another
 world that lies inside Manhattan, one that speaks for itself throughout the world
 and yet can only be experienced in a few choice places… the world of theatre.
 Although I had been there before, done the very same thing, never had it hit me
 like it did, filled me with the absolute magic and wonder of it all. I remember
 thinking how wonderful it would be if everyone could experience it… those
 people still freezing on the streets… if they could have taken two hours in the
 warm theatre, entered that make-believe world that feels so real and is so
 enticing… perhaps they could have left, and had a warm, beautiful memory to
 hold. 
    Therein lies the strongest magic that the city has to offer, and that magic is what
 calls me and brings me back. It's a call, and it is, to me, the most wonderful place
 in the world.