New York Christmas Story #1 - circa 1978

It was Christmas Eve and I was on the subway, coming home from work. It must have been a half-day. I was standing in the subway car and holding on to the bar. The person next to me had a bunch of shopping bags which she held in her hand, also on the bar.

The bags hung down and were swaying with the subway, intruding on the personal space of another woman who was seated in front of her. Refer to this photo  and check out the horizontal bar people are holding onto. Then imagine shopping bags hanging down. Add in a crowded, overheated subway car and this was not going to have a happy ending.

First it was semi-polite requests from the seated woman to watch the bags, followed by a nasty "I'll do what I want" response from the bag swinger.

More verbal insults were exchanged, and the situation quickly escalated  to the point that the standee dropped her bags, the seated person stood and they started this punching, pushing match on the subway.

I'm thinking, "Oh no, a fist fight on Christmas Eve."

People around were pleading with them to stop, when suddenly one voice emerged among the rest. It was this man around 45 years old who admonished them that this is no way to act on Christmas Eve, they should be ashamed, we all have to get along -- and then added what horrible examples they were providing for the children in the car seeing this behavior.

There was something about his voice that was so commanding, but in a gentle way. There was silence in the subway car, seconds ticked off and then the two women simultaneously apologized to each other, then actually hugged each other, and the whole subway car burst into applause. It still makes me smile.