Public Displays of Attention

Today was bizarre day. There were an extraordinary number of strange public events - well, maybe not strange, but openly attention grabbing. Here are two:

1. The Lady in the Wheelchair
Since I temped for the nurses today I biked to BART and hopped a train headed towards Oakland. It always amazes me how quiet the station and trains usually are. There's rarely any talking. Most people are sleeping or reading and many have ear buds in creating their own soundtrack. Alongside the track there is a yellow security line with black rectangles evenly dispersed. These mark where the doors will open and especially at the North Berkeley station riders ritualistically line up each morning. It always amazes me that everyone knows where the last train will stop - dependent on how many cars are listed to arrive. It's an unspoken understanding. It's rare to see anyone standing in a rectangle that is out of the boundary of the train.

Anyway, today when the train arrived there was a woman in a wheelchair at the door of the car that I was waiting to enter. As is customary exiting comes before entering. So we waited for this woman to come off the train, but she was not budging. So, silently, we all squeezed around her. I found it very odd. When we got to Berkeley she was still in the same place and I wondered what the reactions of the entering passengers would be. Most people did the same squeezing around, but one woman actually said, "are you trying to get off?" The woman in the chair said "no, if I was I would just charge ahead and run over peoples toes." There was a defiance in her. A sense of entitlement. I found it very rude and was pleased to see her gone at Ashby.

2. The Run and Grab
As I left the office and headed down 20th to BART there was a couple behind me that was clearly looking for something - asking for directions. I wanted to be helpful, but I didn't want to dilly dally so I could get home and to The Beat before Sarah's class to work on the definition of Laughter for Funny Bone. As we got to the corner to wait for the light a man to my left asked the couple (who now moved ahead of me) what they were looking for. I believe it was a CitiBank. There's literally every bank in the area, but I had no idea where CitiBank was. I think it was a woman who mentioned she thought that CitiBank down Franklin. The guy in the couple grabbed his girlfriend's hand and prepped to run as the crosswalk counted down 3-2-1 and the guy started to sprint, but the woman yelled "NO!" and pulled him back. Others on the corner made verbal responses and I started laughing. Loud and proud. It was so surprising and happened so fast. I smiled as we all crossed the street and giggled.