I think the subway might just be the saddest place in existence. Nowhere else can you see so many people completely devoid of all emotion. It always amazes me when I look around at all the people who are concentrating so very hard on not looking at anyone. They stare at the advertisements. Listen to their IPod Nanos. Pretend to be sleeping. There are only so many ads on the train, you know - I think I've read them all about 50 times now. They're not really all that interesting. It's just something to look at so you don't have to make eye contact with the person across from you.
It reminds me of the song "Dark Blue," the refrain of which contains the words "have you ever been alone in a crowded room?" It's interesting to see so many humans with so little...humanity.
And that is the whole of my sermon.
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I think that this is symptomatic of a much larger disorder of estrangement from our fellow man. We interact through phones and videos (or through the internet) and we get our entertinment from glass boxes.
After a long period of this distance between us and other people it can be almost painful to make any sort of real connection (even just by meeting someone's eyes). The odd thing is that this seems to grow worse the higher the concentration of people.
Try to imagine a subway running beneath St John's: a subway full of Newfoundlanders! I think it would be a very different experience than the subway running under Boston.
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