Big city, big hearts

New York gets a bad reputation for being a city filled with people who don't care about each other. That manifests itself most often on the subway where acts of selfishness and just ridiculous actions are the subject of many a NY story. I myself have chronicled my train stories here numerous times and there many more instances that I just am too weary to share with you.

But there is another side of the city that doesn't get played up as much because bad news sells more that feel good topics. This city is also known for being kind to each other, a little known fact that gets scoffed at when mentioned in mixed company. Just today I got on the train at the beginning of my afternoon commute and I rushed to get a seat and a woman held it and motioned her friend to come over and take it. I decided not to fight that battle and looked around for another seat. If you have ever been on a NYC subway during rush hour, you know that if you don't identify a seat within seconds and head directly to it, you can forget about getting one. By the time I spun around, all seats had been taken and there I was standing, visibly frustrated because I knew that I would be standing for an hour and who wants to do that after a long day? One guy noticed that I was exasperated and gave me his seat because he was only going two more stops. He said I looked like I was tired an would appreciate the seat more than he would. It was a gesture that I see more often than not on the train but people don't make a big deal about it because it's what you're supposed to do: be kind to your fellow riders. It's the jackasses that get written about because they didn't get that memo!

But today, I am going to celebrate those among us who understand what it really means to live in a big city: it matters more to people when you're kind to them here than in small towns. It's easy to be nice to people you have known all your life. Being nice to strangers because it's the right thing to do is a much harder skill and appreciated more.

These are my thoughts...what are yours?