This morning I check the weather app on my mobile to see what kind of jacket I should wear to work. It's been a long, cold winter that has lasted well into April. One day it's sunny and warm then the next day you have to put your parka back on as the temperature drops 20 degrees, Ugh! I'm hoping it's a warm weather day as the app opens and I see 50's and 60's. I put on, what I call, my mid level jacket. It's warm enough for some chill but light enough for fluctuating weather. I leave the apartment and immediately feel hopeful as the sun warms my skin while shutting the apartment door behind me. I notice right away a lot of voices and look down the block to see a parade of teenagers, probably from the local high school. They must be doing some sort of mandatory drill this morning? The line of chattering young humans are walking parallel to me one block away so I increase my pace hoping I do not have to cross through their masses when I’m ready to turn left in another two blocks. I luck out as I get to the pivotal point and see they are staying on the opposite side of the street. I look across at them and hear one of the teacher's yelling "you guys need to speed up". Can you imagine herding a couple of hundred teens in a timely manner?
I continue my steps for another two blocks and cross over Route 139, the State thoroughfare that runs right into the Holland Tunnel and NYC. My usual walk to the train station leads me over 139, through a parking lot and down a small, litter ridden street that seems more like an alleyway you wouldn't want to go through but is the fastest route to the train station. As I’m walking down this narrow street a guy heading my way looks at me and says “hey sister”, I nod and am about to say "Good Morning" when he blurts out “you look beautiful” as he walks past me! I turn my head quickly and say "Thank You my friend!". Now I'm smiling as I move forward. Normally that kind of interaction can have a creepy feel to it but I saw it in his face, he was just being nice to a gray haired lady passing by. I'll take it!
After about 5 more minutes of walking I enter the Journal Square Terminal where buses and PATH(Port Authority) trains stop to pick up/drop off people going to and from New Jersey and New York. I go down the stairs on auto pilot and make my way to the platform I stand on every morning, five days a week. Immediatly a woman and man approach me, the woman with a heavy accent asks about the train to 33rd Street in NYC. I point down at the platform we are on and say "this is it". The woman starts to unfold a colorful map of New York City while her male companion gets annoyed that she is asking me where the train's last stop is in the city. She straightens out the map, the man points to 33rd and Ninth Avenue and I put my finger about an inch away and say "33rd near 6th Avenue". We all nod to one another and she thanks me in her lovely accent just as the train pulls in. I look at them and say "you are welcome" while in my head I'm also saying "good luck", step onto the train and take a seat.
Just a few moments later a lady sits to my right and puts her backpack in her lap. Like so many people I've observed on the train, she immediately zips open her bag and starts fiddling around inside, her left elbow hitting me in my right arm as she digs around. I have found that there are people that just can not manage to sit still, they must always be rifling through their bag or shifting their weight. This woman deserved the little bit of "eye" that I gave her as she kept elbowing me in order to swirl her hands around in the bag!
Just before the doors are about to shut another woman gets on, sits to my left, and starts going into her purse but without any elbows! This one pulls out her make-up and begins to apply! Now some people do not care about this but I find it weird to do something I think is pretty personal in a seat sandwiched between strangers. I mean if it's something you would normally do in your bathroom then, in my opinion, it should stay there! I can't be the only one that thinks this? But today it's not bothering me because there are no perfumey smells or elbows coming at me from her direction. The train heads into the tunnel towards New York City.
At the Grove Street stop more people get on and one of them, a tall man, stands in front of me. He pulls a piece of paper out of his bag but just glances at it quickly, looks up, as his right hand hangs down near his thigh holding the paper and his left grabs the silver pole to hold on. I peak at the paper and think it's some sort of instructions but then he kind of starts talking to himself, not loud but audibly. He does a semi-gesture in the air with the hand holding the paper and then lightly talks. I think ACTING! He must be practicing some lines as he heads to the Big Apple for an audition, or acting class, or maybe an Off Broadway production he has gotten a part in? Who knows?
The thing is it's all just life isn't it? In less than an half hour's time I've encountered quite a few experiences and emotions. What I realize about this non-fictional story is that I could describe these people by race, skin color, age and so forth but it really doesn't make one bit of difference. People are friendly, they are in a hurry, they are annoying, they speak different languages, they are inquisitive, kind, busy or just can't sit still and that, my friends, is humanity! We aren't all the same but we really are all the same!
I continue my steps for another two blocks and cross over Route 139, the State thoroughfare that runs right into the Holland Tunnel and NYC. My usual walk to the train station leads me over 139, through a parking lot and down a small, litter ridden street that seems more like an alleyway you wouldn't want to go through but is the fastest route to the train station. As I’m walking down this narrow street a guy heading my way looks at me and says “hey sister”, I nod and am about to say "Good Morning" when he blurts out “you look beautiful” as he walks past me! I turn my head quickly and say "Thank You my friend!". Now I'm smiling as I move forward. Normally that kind of interaction can have a creepy feel to it but I saw it in his face, he was just being nice to a gray haired lady passing by. I'll take it! After about 5 more minutes of walking I enter the Journal Square Terminal where buses and PATH(Port Authority) trains stop to pick up/drop off people going to and from New Jersey and New York. I go down the stairs on auto pilot and make my way to the platform I stand on every morning, five days a week. Immediatly a woman and man approach me, the woman with a heavy accent asks about the train to 33rd Street in NYC. I point down at the platform we are on and say "this is it". The woman starts to unfold a colorful map of New York City while her male companion gets annoyed that she is asking me where the train's last stop is in the city. She straightens out the map, the man points to 33rd and Ninth Avenue and I put my finger about an inch away and say "33rd near 6th Avenue". We all nod to one another and she thanks me in her lovely accent just as the train pulls in. I look at them and say "you are welcome" while in my head I'm also saying "good luck", step onto the train and take a seat.
Just a few moments later a lady sits to my right and puts her backpack in her lap. Like so many people I've observed on the train, she immediately zips open her bag and starts fiddling around inside, her left elbow hitting me in my right arm as she digs around. I have found that there are people that just can not manage to sit still, they must always be rifling through their bag or shifting their weight. This woman deserved the little bit of "eye" that I gave her as she kept elbowing me in order to swirl her hands around in the bag!
Just before the doors are about to shut another woman gets on, sits to my left, and starts going into her purse but without any elbows! This one pulls out her make-up and begins to apply! Now some people do not care about this but I find it weird to do something I think is pretty personal in a seat sandwiched between strangers. I mean if it's something you would normally do in your bathroom then, in my opinion, it should stay there! I can't be the only one that thinks this? But today it's not bothering me because there are no perfumey smells or elbows coming at me from her direction. The train heads into the tunnel towards New York City.
At the Grove Street stop more people get on and one of them, a tall man, stands in front of me. He pulls a piece of paper out of his bag but just glances at it quickly, looks up, as his right hand hangs down near his thigh holding the paper and his left grabs the silver pole to hold on. I peak at the paper and think it's some sort of instructions but then he kind of starts talking to himself, not loud but audibly. He does a semi-gesture in the air with the hand holding the paper and then lightly talks. I think ACTING! He must be practicing some lines as he heads to the Big Apple for an audition, or acting class, or maybe an Off Broadway production he has gotten a part in? Who knows?
The thing is it's all just life isn't it? In less than an half hour's time I've encountered quite a few experiences and emotions. What I realize about this non-fictional story is that I could describe these people by race, skin color, age and so forth but it really doesn't make one bit of difference. People are friendly, they are in a hurry, they are annoying, they speak different languages, they are inquisitive, kind, busy or just can't sit still and that, my friends, is humanity! We aren't all the same but we really are all the same!
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