April 8, 2020
They say when the going gets tough, the tough get going. We’re old enough to remember random acts of kindness amid our city’s 1977 and 2003 power blackouts and in the months after 9/11. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a much different feel – for one thing, it’s ongoing for weeks and maybe for months rather than for a day or so. Even the weeks long blackout after Superstorm Sandy wasn’t citywide, so you could still go to adjacent neighborhoods for most needs.
For another, the hallmark of this tough period is isolation. Our typically crowded public spaces are nearly devoid of people. Folks are quietly doing their part by simply staying at home, of all things. And while that’s doubtless the most effective way to ‘flatten the curve’ it lacks the communal energy of say a concert at MSG or a Yankee home game to viscerally remind us that we’re all in this together.
So we’re left to connect in very few physical ways with our community. One way is to thank our delivery guys and supermarket staffs more effusively, and more generously, than we did BC – Before Covid-19. Our hardworking friends and neighbors are risking their lives to ensure that we can eat and therefore survive this crisis. We can never thank them enough. And then there are the battle-weary front line troops of EMS, CPMC and NYPD doing call after call after call, inadequately protected from germs and so deserving of hugs that we can’t give them at this time.
Today the Gazette salutes an unsung local Hero of the Pandemic, Najibullah Waziri. Naji mans the fruit and veggie stand on the corner of Broadway and W207 Street. A white canopy is all that protects Naji and his team from the elements, and it’s been pretty rainy lately. A couple of weeks ago when there was a run on Purell Hand Sanitizer, these guys scavenged some packages of alcohol soaked wipes from somewhere in New Jersey and made them available to us in our time of need. Today they had some surgical masks available in ZipLock bags at a fair price. They didn’t have to do that but they saw a need.
They also saw a need to lend a helping hand to anyone short of cash. We featured their handmade sign offering free fruit and vegetables to those who need a while back. Today we noticed they’d upgraded the sign’s production values while maintaining the original’s message of solidarity.
Naji’s come a long way from the land of his birth, Afghanistan, and Inwood is very blessed to have him here during this crisis. We can show our appreciation by supporting this local small business and by chipping in money to support what they’re doing up here for our community. Thank you, Naji and the entire fruit stand team. You guys are our local heroes.