A subway Ride on a Sunday Afternoon

NYC Subway ride

NYC subway pulling into station

It was a hazy hot summer Sunday afternoon in the city, New York City to be exact. It was one of those rare times when I really had nothing to do. So I got myself dressed took the essentials with me, my IPhone, bottle of water and my wallet and off I went.

Living uptown provided me with enough time to think where I should go and what to do when I got there. I was happy to feel the cool air flowing in the air as I stepped into the subway.

With my headphones on tuning out the world, I started to watch
the people on the train without being too obvious of course. It’s amazing being in a subway car one can come across people from all around the world, with different backgrounds, beliefs, attitudes and stories.  Which for me makes a subway ride interesting and at times entertaining.

For example, there was a young lady probably no older than 21 or 23
sitting with her 3 young children ages I guess from 1 to 3 years old. The two young boys were twins and the girl was the oldest. Was she a single mom? Is there a dad in the picture?

Was the dad there but left once he found out she was pregnant? Not sure but looking at her face you can tell life has not been kind to her. I wonder if she has any family helping her, I hope she does.

I glance over the corner of the train where a middle age couple, both well-dressed were sitting together. They seemed to be arguing over something, perhaps about money, a job loss, or maybe one of them was caught cheating on the other. There were no tears just frustration and anger on both sides.

I slowly turned my head to the left side of the train where a group of teenage boys were talking loudly all dressed somewhat alike wearing vests with some kind of lettering
and images, “were they in a gang or just wearing a style made popular in the town they lived in”.  As the train was pulling into the station and the group of teens were getting off the train you can feel a certain sigh of relief within the car as they left.  It may not be the right way to think, but that is just the way things are today.

Was it wrong to assume the worst? Why is it that we seem to judge people too soon?Should we care enough to stop and see if we can help one another?

Are we all too busy in our own hectic lives to reach out and help someone
or are we afraid, because sometimes no good deed goes unpunished? Has today’s world affected the way we act and behave or do we have so many problems of our own to even care about anyone else? Just wondering.

Oh sorry, here is my stop, getting off the train now but I hope to see you again.

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