So after work, I headed down to the Liberty game. MSG is SOOOO expensive. I'm grateful they gave me $200.00 in food vouchers -- a Liberty souvenir cup of soda was $6.00. I tried to get the most protein for my buck and setlled on a bag of peanuts. They were inedibly stale and cost me $4.50.
The game was good. When the Liberty played Atlanta last month, they were embarassed at home, blowing something like a 15 or 20 point lead at the half to lose. Despite playing that seemed to me to be uneven, they did defeat Atlanta this time. The game was good, but the real show was on the train ride on the way home.
At 42nd Street or so, a young man got on. I don't think he was under the influence of drugs, though his behavior seemed very odd. He got on with a wrap or a tortilla in his hand, and a paper bag from Chop't. He was carrying an equipment bag on his shoulder that said "fencing" on it. He dropped the paper bag, and somehow when he bent over to get it, he spilled the contents of his wrap all over a woman who was standing beside him and all over the floor.
There was enough left to eat, though, and he tore into it. As I said, I don't think he was high, I think he was probably an athlete who had gone through a long workout and who was very hungry. He was devouring his food. At times it seemed he was eating the wax paper it was wrapped in, and I swear he must have no fillings, because he looked like he bit the tinfoil a couple of times. He ate with the same gusto that people eat with when they're drunk and hungry. I made contact with the woman upon whom he spilled the food, and we shared a raised-eyebrows smile. A couple was sitting beside me, laughing with each other. They thought I was laughing along with them, and I explained that no, the fencer was the source of my amusement. The husband, Greg, and I began talking. He and his wife Melissa were both theater majors. They got married and are starting their life in NY.
We had a lovely talk about living in NYC and priorities. I talked about nonprofits, and he talked about the green restaurant where he works, and how they share in the profits. It's over by Columbia, at 125 LaSalle, and is called Pisticci. I'll have to go there sometimes.
They got off at 96th street, and a homeless guy got on. He got on with an apparent air of desperation; maybe I'm jaded because I regarded him as one of the people you know is gonna start begging even before they do it. He got on and was looking all desperate and hopeless to set the stage before he started. Then he began in earnest, asking if anyone could spare a penny, a nickel, a quarter or a dollar so he could buy a black T-shirt.
A guy sitting down the seat from me looked up from reading his Kindle. He listened to the homeless guy talking about wanting to buy a black T-shirt. The guy reading the Kindle, who happened to be wearing a black T-shirt, got up, took off his T-shirt, and gave it to the homeless man. He had a hoodie, so he simply put it on and zipped it up. By the time he finished putting on his hoodie, and when I looked again, the homeless man was in the next car and had put on the black T-shirt. I can't be sure, but from his location and body position, it seemed he was preparing to beg.
I told the guy down the bench that the homeless man had indeed put the shirt on. We were coming up to my stop, and I told him what a kind thing he'd done, thanked him, and asked God's blessings upon him, as did an older woman who was also getting off at the same stop. As I left, I saw the black-shirt-clad-homeless man, appearing to approach the people in the next car.
Came home and watched the news for a while. In addition to the possible shutdown of State government, due in large part to Pedro Espada and Ruben Diaz, I watched with interest the story on schoolkids who launched a protest because their free or reduced-fare Metrocards might be discontinued. We had this conversation on FB, but I have a hard time finding sympathy for kids not getting free Metrocards. When they're on the train, they hog seats and are often loud, obnoxious, and profane. I realize this isn't all kids, but during morning rush hour when I'm trying to wake up, or during evening rush hour, when I'm all tired from having worked a real job all day, I sort of resent having to stand up while a couple of rude, loud 16-year olds hog the seats, cursing like sailors and dropping the N-word every other syllable. I don't want to subsidize that kind of behavior, and I certainly don't want to subsidize people who make me uncomfortable. One of my friends noted that they complain about not getting free Metrocards, but they all have cellphones and text. He says they should use that money to pay for their Metrocards.
They can use any means they want, except my tax dollars. But what was really interesting was that these kids, who organized a protest march to MTA headquarters, marched over the Bridge into Brooklyn and then WENT TO THE WRONG ADDRESS.
To my mind, that's further evidence that we don't need to pay for their transit to school. IT clearly isn't working for them.
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