The building sits at 621, 5th avenue, where Carlos, a longtime New York City doorman, welcomes “bums to diplomats” each day, with a warm smile and a twinkle in his eye. With the frenzied Lego store to the right, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in the distance and the joyful Christmas music pounding through the thick icy air, Carlos describes the plethora of bizarre people and events he observes on the daily. In fact, “you don’t have to go to LA to see the stars…” I opened the door for Martha Stewart just this morning!”, he notes.  

As I first begin talking with him, he is apprehensive and standoffish, however 6 minutes into the interview he is already cracking jokes and giving me life lessons in his jocular yet benign tone. Carlos tells me, if he could be anywhere in the world it would be New York City. It’s the greatest city in the world, he claims, ”You can learn so much from this city - not only from the job, but from the 5 burrows.” Like an astrologer with a map of the stars, on the palms of his dark aged hands, Carlos reads the streets of the what seems to be the ever-twinkling, big city. As he speaks, there is an extraordinary glimmer in his eye, mirroring to the magical metropolis he creates when describing “the city that never sleeps”, New York City.

Without even taking a breath, when asked what his favorite time of year was, Carlos immediately retorted, “The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting”. Once a year people come from all around the world to see the single most quintessential Christmas tree in all the world…one hundred and ten feet of dazzling bright lights lie ready to be awakened in the chill of a December winter night. However, this breathtaking time of year also brings in the “crazies” as Carlos puts it. As the streets pile with thousands of untamed tourists, Carlos watches from the interior glass of the buildings, shielding him from the exterior chaos encircling the plaza. He smiles his magnificent smile as he describes the chaotic beauty of it all. I imagine, years from now, Carlos still untouched in his jet-black suit and his unsoiled white shirt, handing directions out from the back of his hand.  

Here are some particulars about the formidable man in the big black suit, born in Puerto Rico, Carlos moved to the Bronx in the 1980s. His age remains undisclosed, however it is apparent he’s had a long, fulfilled life from the small wrinkles that form under his eyes when he grins. After attending high school, Carlos became a messenger. “I was a walking messenger,” he told me, “there, I learned East from West and my North from my South.” After doing that for years, he went on to training school studying concierge training. “It wasn’t a choice,” becoming a doorman was the next necessary step in his life, as it was his next source of income. Carlos was hired at Rockefeller Center in 1984 and hasn’t left since. “Why haven’t you left after all these years?” I asked Carlos skeptically. “Because this is home,” he replied.

His appreciation for life amazed me. This man, living such a simple life, found contentment in things that are mundane to most, but to him, they are riveting.  When I mentioned his name to other employees of the building, a smile immediately came rushing to their faces. “Carlos goes to work wanting to help people,” one said, “He takes his job seriously but does it in such a passionate way. It is as though he sees the world through his own lens and can only see the good in everyone”. When asked what person has made most a difference in his life Carlos quickly replied, “No one. I was alone all my life and I learned not to be afraid. You’ve got to take things day by day step-by-step…that’s how I live myself.”  Carlos’ observant nature gave me the urge to pause my own life and adopt these qualities as my own. His curiosity inspired me, as his role as New York City’s vigil has given him such boundless knowledge for all the things this great city holds. 

Carlos admires those of the minority rather than majority because he too is among it. Growing up with his Puerto-rican traditions, made him an outsider to America. However he too, like Clemente, broke ‘through the glass’ of his own color constraints. Carlos’ hero is Roberto Clemente; “He’s inspiring like Babe Ruth…broke from the color barriers in the 60s.” He spoke of individuals like Danica Patrick, the first women to successfully race cars in a pool dominated by men, so admirably. I told him I’d be the second. He replied with his bona fide rich as gold laugh, which reverberated off the shiny marble floors. He explained to me that the most important thing in life is your health and undivided respect: “Respect for one another is key to life. It doesn’t matter where you come from, everyone should be seen the same.” He opened my eyes to the idea that everyone should be taken seriously, regardless of heritage, color, or gender – everyone is equally important in this world. “It doesn’t matter where you come from,” he says, “You can go to Harvard and still not know where you are in this big city – that’s why you need people like me.”

As I was leaving that afternoon, Carlos said something as he opened the door…he told me that in life you always want to win - but in the end whether you win or loose, the most important thing is you exceed your own expectations.