Wednesday, October 29, 2008
How a preacher made me late
When I was on my way to meet Carrie for our walk across the Brooklyn Bridge two Sundays back, I decided to not listen to music. But I did carry my iPod with me. You never know when there will be a group of loud people; a person who believes him or herself to be so brilliant or funny that everyone on the train deserves to share their wit or brilliance; a person whose house burned down/wife left him/had everything stolen/is trying to get his life back on track/doesn’t steal…… or perhaps….
A preacher got on. It was a short stop, so I tuned him out without music. But the carriage I was in must have been full of sinners who needed their souls to be saved, because after a one stop break, he came back! Enough! I went for the music.
A few minutes later, as the doors were closing at Pacific Street, I caught the tail end of an announcement from the conductor: Trains were diverted over the Manhattan Bridge from the next stop. I would not be able to get to Downtown Manhattan on the local train. I got off at the next stop, doubled back to Pacific Street and took a different train line from there to our meeting point.
Now I suppose I could claim that the MTA should have had signs up about the change of service. And the conductor should have made announcements during the first several stops also, instead of only the last two before the re-routing. But if it wasn’t for the preacher, I would have heard the announcement the first time. Perhaps some people feel that Jesus saved them. Indeed, had I not turned on my music and drowned out the sermon, he could have saved me 20 minutes!
I meant to blog this a week ago, but was reminded of it while coming home late from my second date with Jan, whose name, I trust and hope, will be become a fixture on this blog. On the longest stop of the journey, going across the Manhattan Bridge, a woman got on. I couldn’t hear her words even though she stood right next to me, but I thought she was a crazy person. Slap my wrist! I thought she was challenged by reality. Between tracks of my music, I figured out that she was preaching. And a woman who had been reading her book, just like me 9 days earlier, decided enough was enough, and put on her music. And I was amused; not alone in the anonymous yet interesting world of mass transit.
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A preacher got on. It was a short stop, so I tuned him out without music. But the carriage I was in must have been full of sinners who needed their souls to be saved, because after a one stop break, he came back! Enough! I went for the music.
A few minutes later, as the doors were closing at Pacific Street, I caught the tail end of an announcement from the conductor: Trains were diverted over the Manhattan Bridge from the next stop. I would not be able to get to Downtown Manhattan on the local train. I got off at the next stop, doubled back to Pacific Street and took a different train line from there to our meeting point.
Now I suppose I could claim that the MTA should have had signs up about the change of service. And the conductor should have made announcements during the first several stops also, instead of only the last two before the re-routing. But if it wasn’t for the preacher, I would have heard the announcement the first time. Perhaps some people feel that Jesus saved them. Indeed, had I not turned on my music and drowned out the sermon, he could have saved me 20 minutes!
I meant to blog this a week ago, but was reminded of it while coming home late from my second date with Jan, whose name, I trust and hope, will be become a fixture on this blog. On the longest stop of the journey, going across the Manhattan Bridge, a woman got on. I couldn’t hear her words even though she stood right next to me, but I thought she was a crazy person. Slap my wrist! I thought she was challenged by reality. Between tracks of my music, I figured out that she was preaching. And a woman who had been reading her book, just like me 9 days earlier, decided enough was enough, and put on her music. And I was amused; not alone in the anonymous yet interesting world of mass transit.
