Two women walking side by side. Not friends, mind you, nor acquaintances, no whispering, no laughing, just two women walking silently next to each other. Walking from the parking lot to the train station. The train had already arrived at the platform on the other side.
The women were slow, lethargic, they were positively crawling. The train was already there and I began to worry. Come on ladies, I said to myself, if you want to make that train, you've got to giddy up. Run ladies, run like the wind, no, run faster than the wind because to tell you the truth, the wind wasn't making very good time that day.
But they didn't. They continued on with their leisurely pace. Still side by side, step for step. Moss grew on their backs. Birds mated on their shoulders. Turtles won the 100 meter dash in direct competition and were felicitated by the rabbit judge. My heart ached in anticipation of the departure of the train. Until.
Until one of the women made a sharp left onto the platform on this side. She had no use for that train. She was here for a different train that would travel in a different direction from a different platform.
It was then that someone applied a horsewhip to the other woman. It could have been a regular whip but it sounded the same. Look at her go. High heels clicking like sewing machines, she clacked down the stairway that crossed over to the other platform, her hair trying to keep up with her purse.
See, this woman, she had been following her herd instinct. As long as she believed that the other woman was going to board the same train and knew what she was doing, she was willing to follow her at the same pace. If there had been a cliff nearby and the other woman had jumped off it, she would have jumped in after her, saying to herself that this was probably a newer shorter route to the platform that she hadn't known about.
We trust the decision-making abilities of perfect strangers for no other reason than we trust other people to make better decisions than we do. We know we are stupid. Surely other people know better than us. We would follow other people to the ends of the earth till other people turn to us and ask us, hey, do you know where this road goes?
13 comments:
profound!
-S
u seem to sound more and more like Sienfield ...
who is -S?
S : No, really? Oh, you had me going there for a while.
chimera : Was it the giddy up that gave it away?
zambezi : Someday I will write a post on why humans are so curious by nature.
Loved this post....
i am gonna kick your ass harry potter.
Lemmings!
chips : Thank you
zambezi : Strategically unresponsive fucker. Did you find another hitherto undiscovered uncle to break idlis with?
luminovsky : are they a herd animal?
i read your post on saturday about weekend plans. the play offs are on. the nets played on saturday and hence the silence. fuck you too. sunday you should have come to belleville, the cherry blossom capital of the states. dont be a hater popatlal, i will break those soda glasses.
gawker, I'm curious about the whip, horse or otherwise. Are you certain it wasn't your hand holding the handle to said whip? It sounds like something you would have and do.
zambezi : I biked 30 miles to Philly man. I feel like a God. Even your threats of breaking my soda glasses cannot make me feel less than immortal.
robroy : Come on now, we do not do that to women. Not unless they used to be men. Although I do own a horsewhip. Sometimes you get an itch on your back that can only be reached by a horsewhip.
you went to philly and back or just one way? did you walk back carrying your bike?
on a serious note, i want to do something like that too. my bike is at my sisters place. can we do something in the next month or so?
I biked to Philly (25 miles) and took the train back much of the way. Then I had to bike from the station to my car (5 miles). Then I drove home. Then I biked from my car to my door (5 meters). I only carried the bike from my door to my bike room (20 stairs). I hope that painted a clearer picture.
If you want to bike on any given weekend, let me know on friday. I bike every saturday from now on till november. Sometimes sundays as well. We can do the D&R in Princeton. It is an hour for you and an hour for me. Or we can do Jim Thorpe.
Post a Comment