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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Recovers: New York City Continues to Be A Polite Place

Aired October 04, 2001 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(CONTINUED FROM 7:50 SEGMENT)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... if they say 'how are you', they really mean 'how are you?'

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, even smiling, just making eye contact, you know, usually people are like, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More polite. They look in your eyes, say good morning. They hold the door for you. They're like going back to maybe the 50s.

MOOS: From less pushing in the subways to less pushiness on the road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I have found, though, is that there's less honking of horns.

MOOS: Now drivers are honking to make way for an ambulance or to signal it's OK to cut in front.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I know that I've gotten more patient after this. I realize that I'm just lucky to be alive.

MOOS: These days, you might even find a shoulder to cry on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I was just sitting at the bar waiting for a burger, and all of a sudden I just like lost it. And all of these people came over and started hugging me, I mean, complete strangers and like that doesn't happen in New York City.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This incident draw everybody together. You know that, right? Black, white, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and that's the best thing.

MOOS: And the pierced look draws fewer sharp glances.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they don't look at us in quite the weird manner that they used to.

MOOS: But to some New Yorkers, all this niceness is just another sign that things aren't normal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the police tell you you can't go down a block and people wave and say OK. Hey, this is New York. You're not supposed to wave and say OK.

MOOS: Those perturbed by surplus civility take heart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have gone back to the usual.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today on the subway -- on the subway, people weren't patient. They weren't. People were irked, hitting each other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, we're salesmen. No one is ever nice to us.

MOOS: Are they being nicer though?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. It's actually gotten worse.

MOOS: Even a rude awakening doesn't make everyone permanently polite.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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