less story more observation!
this afternoon, i hopped on my bus on state and madison. i was surprised to see that it was mostly empty--i've seen it full to the door at different times in the afternoon--but was pleased to see that my favorite area to sit, the back, was completely bare.
i like sitting in the back. i can't quite place why, although if you sit in the very back row in the corner you can put your feet up on the hardware that holds the seat ahead of you. not too shabby.
so i move to that seat, and make a move to claim it when i notice a newspaper sitting in my spot. without a second thought, i picked up the newspaper and moved it to another seat nearby. you know, leave it so that if someone really wanted something to read, he had the paper.
the bus kept moving on and kept filling up, the paper jumped from empty chair to empty chair. soon the only seat left near me was the one with the paper in it. the last fellow to come to the back of the bus saw the empty seat, made a move to take it, then noticed the paper. he turned back around, picked up the paper, folded it hot dog style (first grade art class, anyone?), sat down, and placed the paper by his feet.
looking back i don't know why, but i found this curious. why not just sit on the paper? certainly, one doesn't just sit on things. that's generally looked down upon, i'd say. but why is that? do we have such an aversion to foreign items coming into contact with the seat of our pants that we'll move one object to sit on the other? after a moment i conjectured that the newspaper was probably cleaner and had been sat upon by less people than the seat itself was likely to, but still the paper was moved. is it out of respect for the printed word, or just the general fact that if you sit on something, you run the risk of looking foolish and lazy?
in retrospect, this is a little lame. sitting on newspaper? really? here's a backup story: i discovered wicker park today (and claimed it for the gold coast).
ah well, there's always tomorrow.
1 comment:
Personally, I quite enjoyed that observation. I enjoy having the simple things in life pointed out to me, such as the situation you described. Probably because I am not nearly as perceptive as I wish I was, and I miss those little intricacies a lot of the time.
At the moment, I have no observations of my own, but I will share with you one a friend of mine made. In an elevator, a party of complete strangers are forced to share the same confined space for a brief amount of time, but there always seems to be some universal aversion to making eye contact within that allotted time. As if that invasion of personal space is such an affront, that, to lessen our offense we must avoid the eyes of everyone around us. Perhaps, then we will not acknowledge them as human, and thus feel less awkward for having been crammed together so unscrupulously?
What would happen if we upset the natural order of things, and acknowledge someone in an elevator? Would an unquantified gap finally be bridged? Would we be able to curb animosity for a bit? Would a black hole erupt as the universe tears in two and implodes due to an utter violation of unwritten rules upon which our very concept of space-time is built upon? Perhaps. Or it may just end with awkward small talk compounded with the still awkward amount of personal space. Perhaps Elevatorial Silence is more of a necessity than first realized.
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