A NYC Train station is more or less the most sure fire way to meet/see “interesting” people. Bums masturbating to women sitting across from them… or businessmen doing just the same but more discretely through their side pockets. Seemingly “crazy” Christians speaking the word of god to a bunch of people that would attack them at any moment if there were no real consequences for it. Loud teenagers getting ready to go finger each other. Mexicans. You will never be short of any moments in a train station.
Last night I witnessed a man go through a series of acts that I COULD describe as disturbing. Acts that I COULD describe as gross. But I couldnt help but find them interesting.
He peered into a garbage bin, reached in and pulled out a Wendys bag. He then proceeded to look inside the bag and found (what looked like) three crispy chicken nuggets and half a cheeseburger. He quickly walked off to consume the contents in private behind a staircase. I saw him return to the garbage can with the empty bag. Next time I saw him he seemed to be helping a mother get her child into a stroller which, at the time, came off as a rather bizarre transition.
It was instantly clear to me that she failed to see what he had just been doing 5 minutes before. I shouldve said that he was not too long ago knee deep in waste but I dont like interfering in the lives of others so I allowed this to happen.
After helping her out, he proceeded to gaze upon this 5 yr old child in one of the most hauntingly sexual ways I had ever seen. Not in any glaringly obvious way mind you. But it was so subtle that I would be surprised if many people actually noticed it.
What weirded me out most was my reaction. It wasnt fear, anger or disgust, it was a simple question…
“What could he possibly see in her…shes like FIVE years old”
In a way, it seems as if we have begun accepting the ridiculousness of people in a very strange way. When you see a bum jackin it to some random girl on the train, a feeling of disgust doesnt immediately take over you. Its more a feeling of “wow he must be REALLY horny…everyone can see his penis and he doesnt even care”. We’ve started to rationalize these odd choices and theyre being broken down as if “normal” (for lack of a better term) people are making them.
“OMG HE’S SICK!!!” Isnt uttered as much these days. This can be the result of one or two things. Perhaps we have started to accept and rationally question the actions of others despite how sick said actions are. Or OR… we simply find these people interesting.
Many would agree that there is a severe lack of interesting people in the world these days. Go to any random bar and this will be immediately apparent. You’ll start off by talking to people you see as “normal” but they wont interest you with their normal person talk. Your eyes will glaze over and you’ll suddenly see yourself gravitating towards the people in the bar who seem to have made sick choices. People in the bar who are doing sick things.
Like the girl with orange skin who calls it a “tan”. And the guy hitting on women wearing cargo shorts and flip flops. You’ll watch and mock them all night with your friends. You’ll wonder “why” but at the same time you wont exactly be disgusted enough by them to stop observing them.
This may not seem at all related to the masturbating bums and creepy pedo examples I gave before but they are. They all fall under the instances that would cause us to react in a “wow there are about 17 different reasons why I wouldnt be doing that right now” type of way.
Needless to say “OMG HE’S SICK!!!” is still there. In the back of our minds but its not at the forefront. Its only there to help support our relentless mockery of these people. To help us along the path of convincing ourselves that we’re glad we arent these people. But perhaps…
perhaps we somehow wish we were these people. If we were, we would be able to escape our uninteresting mundane lives and experience true freedom. The freedom to do what we want no matter how foolish or ridiculous it might be. All the while no one will stop us, they will only question us. They’ll stare at us.
…perhaps we arent envious of their actions (how could we be) but we covet their freedom.
Ok maybe not but its an interesting concept none-the-less.
thanks for the great post