New York City breeds impatience and rush. For those of you who are impatient, I give you the meat of this post in one tidy phrase: “MIND THE GAP; DON’T RUN AT THE TRAIN”. There you have it, now you can click away to your next task.
But if you’re the kind who likes details, here’s the story. I took the local train into the office today because I could get a seat and read my new book. Because I’m a rather impatient person (no, Shannon, not you!) I flipped to the last chapter because I just *had* to know the ending first.
We pulled into 59th Street, and here came the people rushing up the stairs with their eyes on the prize: the 1 train! An older man dove toward the doors as they were closing, and FELL INTO THE GAP. His legs were BENEATH the train, in the tracks. His torso was inside the train on the floor. The doors crunched around him and I heard myself scream “Oh God!”
Those of you who are New Yorkers know we get a bad rap. But in a pinch I’d want a few New Yorkers on hand because while we’ll yell at you for cutting the line at Duane Reade, in a real pinch we’re quick to respond with kindness.
Another man put himself into the doors to pry them open screaming “Wait! Wait!”, two others started pulling the guy up. I kept thinking about the news report a few years back where a man fell exactly like this, but the train started moving. They stopped the train quickly, rescuers came to the scene, but the ending is not good…the man remained alive and speaking, but when they removed the train he died.
Well, our train didn’t move. The other passengers got the old guy up, and he backed away, rattled, saying “I’ll take the next train.” I started to wonder where exactly he was going that he felt it necessary to dive at the train doors in the first place. Work? A meeting? Breakfast? An audition? A flight? A wedding? Birth of his first born grandchild? Sorry, none of those qualify. Then I consider what in my own life is important enough to risk death or dismemberment just so I can save 5 minutes and catch an earlier train…
Nothing. That’s what.
So slow down folks. This is a city that breeds impatience and rush…sometimes you have to really fight against it and force yourself to slow down. Now here’s that phrase again (just in case you impatiently skipped to the final chapter to see how it ends): “MIND THE GAP; DON’T RUN AT THE TRAIN”.

I’m an insomniac. I feel certain it’s because I spend my waking hours at work, or picking up dog poop (of which there is an endless supply), or wasting copious amounts of time on Facebook looking at the toothless, slobbery faces of my friends’ children. Thus, there is little time left to be creative.