FEARFUL LIFE SOLUTIONS?

A fearful life is riding a NYC subway at night in the Seventies.

This is what my ride looked like.

I took the train from Brooklyn, up Manhattan, and over to Queens.

It seemed like scary ride at night.

Why the fear?

I felt all alone in a big, big city and didn’t like the feeling.

I wanted the alone part, just not the fearful feeling.

It wasn’t like I was in hermit-training, but I’d planned on living there a long time.

My idea of getting lost in the crowd didn’t include getting kidnapped.

The graffiti was a call to action? Kidnapper action? Who knew?

I found a seat on the train and didn’t look around, didn’t make eye contact.

City living means making eye contact a half block away from strangers, then ignoring them.

No way I was looking directly at anyone in a small space that might seem like an invitation to talk.

Like the guy in the top shot, I sat it out and waited to get off.

Then the parade started.

Locals Don’t Lead A Fearful Life

Since it was a Friday night everyone had gone home, dressed up, and jumped on the subway to a party.

Maybe to a friend’s apartment, a bar, a restaurant, anyplace that wasn’t home or work.

The first group looked like Saturday Night Fever with the gang dressed up to go disco dancing.

Or a prom? A wedding? No, just a regular Friday.

They were lively and laughing and looked like movie stars.

Where were they going? They had Dance Fever.

A line dance which was called hustle became an international dance craze in 1975, following Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony’s song “The Hustle“.

Tipped off by DJ David Todd, McCoy sent his partner Charlie Kipps to the Adam’s Apple discotheque in New York City’s East Side. 

Adam’s Apple was all about disco. The trick was getting past the guy at the door.

2

After they departed, a crowd of young Chinese men and women got on and stepped off a few stops later.

Everyone looked their best standing in a subway car on Friday night in stark contrast to the tagged walls.

People ready to party, drink, and dance was a common theme along the line.

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The last group on my ride to Queens wore their their Soul Train best.

They were heading uptown on a Friday night.

I sat thinking, and I remember this all these years later, I sat thinking America was the greatest place in the worlds and New York City was the greatest place in America.

I was sold on it during that subway ride.

Bruce got it right:

In the day we sweat it out on the streets
Of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory
In suicide machines

All three groups had a look that said, “Tonight’s the night.”

They all swayed to the subway moves, standing or sitting.

None of the people I saw that night had the look of a fearful life.

I wanted to be more like them on their turf.

Shared Turf

I sat on the subway watching friends and neighbors mingle and sway, and rubbed my ring from high school.

It reminded me of classmates and teammates.

The people on the train with me would become my new teammates and classmates.

We would learn to live together and focus our energies on shared goals.

Like a big happy family.

I squeezed my ring thinking about my mom and dad.

They would never visit me.

That’s when I snapped out of it.

A New York subway car can be part of a fearful life surrounded by strangers.

But not that night.

We all knew who we were, and it felt like a dream.