Millions of people, many beautiful

According to the figures announced by the U.S. Census Bureau last week, there are 308,745,538 people living in the United States. When more details are announced next year, it’s expected that New York City’s population will total almost 8,400,000, a 4-5 percent increase over the 2000 census figure. It may surprise you that New York has almost as many people as the combined populations of the country’s second, third and fourth largest cities: Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.

If beauty can be defined as the unique rendering of color and shape, with motion that is accomplished and effortless, then I’m convinced New York City also has, by far, the highest number of beautiful people in the country, if not the world.

According to a December 14 New York Times article by Sam Roberts, “Since 2000, decades of white flight eased and the proportion of non-Hispanic white New Yorkers increased slightly, to 35.5 percent. So did New York City’s proportion of Hispanic residents, to just over 27 percent. The proportion of blacks declined by a percentage point, to 23.3 percent, and the share of Asian residents rose by almost two percentage points, to nearly 12 percent.”

That’s diversity, by any definition. And, when you walk around New York and see people small and big, young and old, dressed in all kinds of manner, it’s a beautiful sight.

I’ve been fortunate the last two years to work in midtown Manhattan with a great group of people. I’ve also become familiar with some of the wonderful people who work in various local eateries, and gotten to know some of the beautiful faces that cross my path as I walk around Rockefeller Center, including those of Abudacar and Adrian.

On most days, Abudacar can be found on the east side of Fifth Avenue, between 48-49 Street, wearing a sandwich-board advertisement and handing out leaflets for a discount men’s clothier. With a French-African accent, he told me recently that he arrived from Guinea eight years ago and lives in the Bronx. He said has no family in the U.S.

“I have an understanding with my boss about my pay,” he replied when asked if he is paid by the hour or by the volume of leaflets he distributes. “It works for both of us.”

When it’s not too cold, Abudacar looks distinguished in a fedora hat and sports jacket. He looks pleasantly at passersby with eyes that are probably somewhere between 60-70 years old. Occasionally, he chats with people who seem to know him.

On an eastern corner of Sixth Avenue and 48 Street, Adrian can often be seen holding a sign and passing out leaflets advertising a nearby Irish bar. Speaking Spanish to me just before Christmas, he told me he came from Mexico three years ago and lives in upper Manhattan. He, too, said he has no family in the U.S.

Short with a perfect complexion and Indian features, Adrian said he was 26 years old and works a couple of jobs. Asked if he had any special wish for Christmas, he paused, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders slowly, looked up at me and replied with a smile, “no.”

He also said that, although he gets paid by the hour, he was glad to have December 25 off from work. It’s a busy time of the year for him, he explained, and he’ll rest on Christmas Day.

There are many beautiful New Yorkers like Abudacar and Adrian -- probably over eight million of them.