I blame New York City
Of the dozens of everyday moral choices we make, few are more poignant than this: the decision whether or not to reach for the elevator's "door open" button. It takes a hardened heart to watch a hapless office worker run towards you through a narrowing stainless-steel frame without reaching for that button -- or does it? This morning, three people -- myself and two others -- stood at the back of the elevator car, staring blankly at the stockbroker jog-trotting towards the closing door with a mute plea in his eyes. We didn't do anything; just stood there as the opening narrowed to a slit, then closed completely inches from the lapels on his Today's Man jacket. And the other people in the elevator were not-for-profit staffers; one was carrying a guitar, for Christ's sake! If they weren't the kind of people who would lunge for the button, who would? What horrible miscarriage of human compassion was this?
Of the dozens of everyday moral choices we make, few are more poignant than this: the decision whether or not to reach for the elevator's "door open" button. It takes a hardened heart to watch a hapless office worker run towards you through a narrowing stainless-steel frame without reaching for that button -- or does it? This morning, three people -- myself and two others -- stood at the back of the elevator car, staring blankly at the stockbroker jog-trotting towards the closing door with a mute plea in his eyes. We didn't do anything; just stood there as the opening narrowed to a slit, then closed completely inches from the lapels on his Today's Man jacket. And the other people in the elevator were not-for-profit staffers; one was carrying a guitar, for Christ's sake! If they weren't the kind of people who would lunge for the button, who would? What horrible miscarriage of human compassion was this?
I blame the city. If New York City specializes in one thing, it's that kind of hardening -- witness this horrifying downward spiral captured through a series of twelve consecutive mug shots.