Yesterday morning and afternoon I was in Prospect Park in Brooklyn with my granddaughter's 3rd birthday. 20+ kids and 30 or so adults and another few thousand people doing their thing. Many "few thousand people" in fact.
I felt as safe for me and particularly the kids as if I were in my own back yard. I saw some of the police around here and there and they were more like park rangers than police. One was kicking a soccer ball with a kid who kicked it to him. The second I saw picked up a paper cup that got away in the wind from one of the 3 year olds. He was just this smilin' guy who was the embodiment of a Sesame Street Policeman in the finest sense. No fooling but nice. A good person.
I remember back to 9-11 and I urge you now and then to go youtube it and get some footage. While everyone was fleeing the area (as directed and certainly not as chickens..but hey you guys get out of here)..there were New York's finest "running toward" the problem. They don't run away. They go toward the problem.
I have one granddaughter who can either grow up to be a ballerina or Einstein. She is that exceptional. Along the way, if she can get a little of the New York's finest "pixie dust", I would not be displeased.