Everything I Need To Know In Life I Learned From Riding The Subway
Yes, the subway can teach us valuable life lessons: stand clear of the doors, report suspicious behavior, bathe daily. But if you dig a little deeper, there may be more important morals to be learned from your daily commute.
There is always someone crazier than you.
No matter what you've said or done, you will always find your crazier counterpart on the train. Snooped through your boyfriend's phone? That's okay - that guy over there is wearing yellow plaid pants and painted his nose red, despite the fact that he is most likely not a clown. Word-vomit confessed a deep dark secret to your entire family? No worries - that homeless man is throwing pennies and yelling at people who move out of his way. You are never the "most" or "least" anything person in the world. You're not the least fashionable. You're not the ugliest. You're not the dumbest. And you're certainly not the craziest. Don't believe me? Take the C train up the Upper West Side at 4:00 on a weekday.
Don't rush.
My mom always tells me not to do anything too quickly. Rushing leads to shoddy work and needing to redo at least part of something before you can consider it the final product. But it wasn't until I started taking the subway every day that I realized just how dangerous being in a hurry can be. If the stairs are icy, you could fall and break both your wrists (or, if you use your hands for a living and have the consciousness to realize that and defy your reflexes, you can fracture your leg instead). If you leap to get on a train as the doors are closing, you could lose your shoe in the gap - and trust me, you do NOT want to walk out at your destination barefoot. Relax. There's another train coming in three minutes. Take a deep breath and slow down.
You can get wherever you want, it just might take a little longer.
There are 15 different train routes I can take to get from my apartment to the school where I work. The school is on a major cross-street, so almost all the subways stop at some point on that latitude. Once I choose a train and take whatever transfers are necessary, I have the option of either walking cross-town or taking the bus. Now that I mention it, there's probably an infinite number of bus combinations I can take to get to the school, too. The point is this: there are a million and one ways to get anywhere. Some take a little longer. Some are more direct. Some have guaranteed seats. Some don't even have guaranteed standing room. You can get wherever you want, however you want to get there. Sometimes you just have to allow a little more time.
If you're uncomfortable, move.
I often find that I am in the way of the door no matter where I stand on the subway. Because of this, I have developed this weird tendency to move at every stop. Sometimes I think that no one else does this. Then I realize that I purposely try to not to pay attention to other people when I'm riding the trains, so in reality, I've probably just never cared to notice whether or not I'm the only weirdo. So when I think I'm in the way of the door, I move. When I'm sitting next to someone who is taking up a little more than their share of room (I'm looking at you, men who think their package is too big to put their damn legs together), I move. If a guy is throwing pennies at me and one hits me, I move. And if he yells at me for moving, I move farther.
If you can't move, grin & bear it; it will all be over soon.
Sometimes, you can't move. There are just too many people on the train. You can't even hold on to anything, except maybe the large black man in front of you. You know what's so great about the subway? It stops every 10 blocks or so. And when it stops, people get off. Sure, people get on, too, but there's a brief moment when there are fewer people on the train, and you have a second to catch your breath and readjust. And on those rare trips when you don't even get those brief moments, comfort yourself with the fact that you do not have to ride the subway all the way to Maine. Your commute will end eventually.
Don't lug around too much baggage.
People like to get on the train at Penn Station, Grand Central, or Port Authority with bags - lots, and lots, and lots of bags. Don't do it. First of all, why are you bringing that much stuff to New York City anyway? Space is a luxury we can't exactly afford here. Second of all, if you need to lug around that much stuff, what the heck are you doing taking the subway? Get a damn cab! Deal with your crap off the subway. Don't put your baggage in all of our faces.
Sometimes, it's just not worth it.
If you have been paying attention, there's a theme here: if you have too much stuff, if there are too many people, if you miss your train... sometimes, it's just not worth it. Don't run to the subway and smash your hand in the door because there are too many people and you just can't cram you and all of your stuff in. Wave goodbye to the train, and hail a taxi. You'll be glad you did.
What have you learned from your daily commute?
