NYC: Distinction and Final Acts

One day Kathy was in Filene's on the UWS. A heftier woman saw her trying on clothes and noting Kathy's waistline said: "I hate you!" They both laughed and proceeded to talk clothes etc. See, this doesn't happen in many other cities. It might, but chances are higher that this type of talk occurs in NYC.

"Why are New Yorkers like this? It goes against psychological principles. Psychologists tell us that the more stimuli people are bombarded with, the more they will recede into themselves and ignore others. So why is it that New Yorkers, who are certainly confronted with enough stimuli, do the opposite? I have already given a few possible answers, but here's one more: the special difficulties of life in New York—the small apartments, the struggle for a seat on the bus or a table at a restaurant—seem to breed a sense of common cause. When New Yorkers see a stranger, they don't think, "I don't know you." They think, "I know you. I know your problems—they're the same as mine—and furthermore we have the same handbag." So that's how they treat you."

Why is it that many suicides in NYC are by people who go the city expressly to do their swan song?