Yesterday as I was walking to get a cab, I saw a woman trip and fall onto the sidewalk. She hit her face and her glasses came off. Now being the clumsy person I am (having totally wrecked up both my knees with falls such as this) I had to help. She seemed to be about 60 or 70, and was with her sister. So I brought her back to my office and let them use the ladies room. I had noticed people stop when she fell, but hardly anyone was willing to help, one man stopped to help her up, but some people actually walked past “tsking”. It was a very odd situation, and it reminded me about the first time I tripped hardcore when I was living in Brooklyn.
I was walking with my laptop bag and I tripped on the sidewalk (nothing new) but because of the weight of the laptop bag, I was thrown off balance and really hit the dirt. I ripped my pants totally open, my hands and knees were absolutely wrecked. And then I look up, there is a guy about 30 on a payphone just staring at me and SMILING! And I mean I hit the dirt! He didn’t do anything just stood and was kindof laughing at me, probably telling his buddy on the phone about how funny it was. I’m not sure NYC looks so alluring anymore. The garbage, the people… I think I am just loosing my patience. New York is a great place, but I still feel like nothing’s changed, and that people have pacified themselves by putting up flags and talking on the train about how they are making plaques out of I beams for commemorative purposes… I won’t even go there, I’m just fed up. But I do love NY