Between Sixth Avenue, where the B train arrives on 42nd Street, and Fifth Avenue, a tunnel stretches to funnel commuters beneath the street. For some reason, today all of the trains in both directions arrived at the station at once, and the tunnel was full of people, hundreds of people bobbing along in the stream of bodies, all flowing down the conduit.
I was worried that, if I surrendered to the flow, relaxed and let the tide carry me, that I would lose my individuality, but I realized that if I relaxed my body, flowed with the mass, while keeping my eyes open and paying attention, that I actually was freed to be even more myself. I didn't have to push or impose my will, skirting between slower walkers and constantly searching for an opening - I could be both myself and a part of the crowd, anonymous, unremarked, necessary.
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4 comments:
I have to say, Scott, this is one of your weaker posts. Your attempts to link your random observations to some larger, psuedo-mystical garble occasionally work, but today you were just phoning it in. Please, in the future, give us more description of the physical scene, and try to work the more philosophical stuff in metaphorically. Is it too much to ask that we be allowed to form our own conclusions, rather than having them spoon-fed to us?
You posted a comment to yourself? I suppose externalizing self-crticism can be useful... Granted, the post was a bit forced. But I haven't written anything too profound lately. Don't be so hard on yourself though =)
Eh, I was just pre-empting the criticisms of others.
Really, I figure the best way to defeat my own inner critic is to drag him out into the light and tease him a little. He can take it...
Yeah, actually, that was the way I used to walk the streets. Thanks for the reminder.
Keep being hard on yourself. :)
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