Wednesday 25 July 2007

This is New York: Wasted Time Reprieve

A man with a noticeable limp and a cane gets onto a train. Not a soul offers him a seat. He stands uncomfortably and holds onto a pole with other people as the train slowly moves off. He then shuffles to the middle of the car to grasp a longer pole which allows him to be a bit steadier. The train progresses slowly along the track and across the bridge into Manhattan; his left foot is getting tired from the weight on it because he is hesitant to put too much weight onto his injured right one. He has to wait until a number of stops later to grab a seat when someone gets up to exit the train. This is New York!

I guess if I want a seat I will have to leave home at 6:30 am! On the television programme House, House makes a comment once about what people allow him to get away with because he walks with a cane. Obviously this doesn’t pertain to New York!

I left work around 7:15 pm and luckily I got a seat on the way home.

A tough day made even worse when I saw her. The lessons one must take from the past two and a half years.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is New York. I had a friend that said that the minute she got on the train while she was pregnant, everyone would feight sleep or suddenly be too engrossed in their books, magazines or newspapers etc. to notice her.

It seems to be better here in that respect.

Anonymous said...

Funny how I never noticed the scant consideration and zero allowances made for injured and or disabled persons until I broke my hands a few years ago. DC is slightly better than NY but I still had to learn to fend for myself and fight with train doors, poles etc. By the time my cast was ready to come off I had developed great versatility.

This however does not excuse the ungraciousness and the philistine conduct and selfishness meteted out to the injured and incapacitated.