Alexander Rea

Now this might only apply to those that commute in New York City but there are are some rules that one should follow when riding a packed subway during rush hour.  Now these rules may differe form person to person and some might not pay attention to things like this or accept them as just “the way it is” but this kind of flagrant disregard for people around simply will not stand.

What would you do if you were carrying a large backpack?

When I am carrying any large bag I place the bag in front of me.  Why?  Because I do not want to bother the people behind me that I can not see because I was not gifted with eyes in the back of my head.  I don’t wear backpacks but I have a shoulder back slung messenger style.   I don’t think it is appropriate for people to be maneuvering through a crowd with what amounts to stegosaurus plates on their back.  Are these people self-aware?  How do they go through life?  The whole routine looks like a Three Stooges bit.  The classic move where one would be carrying a long piece of wood like a 2×4 and then look one way, turn, and not out the other behind him.

So this morning there is one of those completely aloof travlers adorned with some sort of explorer adventure pack.  A 21st century Sir William Edward Parry.  With all those belts and straps.  Like this is an urban Serengeti and we are all the local wild life.  They were all slouched over by the weight of their pack.  All the while us wildlife are trying to pass by them in an almost nearly impossible dance of skill.  Do they respond or react to the protrusion behind them.  The nearly human size mass attached to their back?  No.  They stand there looking around at the marvel of modern conveyances that they obviously do not have in the backwater they hail from.  They do have an REI there though it seems.

So let’s say you are not the world’s next Francisco Vázquez de Coronado.  You are one of us commuters on their way in on the greatest subway system ever built. The doors open and people are piling in the car.  You notice that there is room in the middle of the car but you are stuck to the pole by the door.  Do you move to the center of the car, thus allowing everyone to evely fill in or do you stand there and let everyone walk by you?  Unfortuantely, I’ve discovered that the later is the more common.  Why is that?  How are these people raised?  Are they that important that they feel that they do not have to move or be considerate?  Unfortunately when I ask them to move I’m so aggrevated that it is impossible for me to adjust my tone.  What I think should be a cordial suggestion comes out more like an order.  Somebody needs to do it because unfortunately these great tides of masses flow away from confrontation and I love nothing more than to go against the tide at times.

I’ve often considered publishing a book that should be handed out to every tourist when they board their flight to NYC for the first time.   The working title is “Walking with the Pack:  Rules for traveling on foot in NYC”.