This morning I was on the train at obscenely early o'clock dreaming of my bed, the fireworks still ringing in my ears, completely lost in my own world. It was the morning after the 4th of July, so the train was pretty deserted except for the odd walk of shamer, hangover waiting to happen or homeless person, so I wasn't really paying any attention to anybody.
After about five minutes I noticed the man across from me glaring in my direction. He seemed drunk and fell somewhere between scruffy and homeless, but one thing was certain, his social queues were definitely a little rusty because he didn't even flinch when he saw me notice him staring. His social ineptness became even more apparent when after a few minutes of hard staring he moved on to the quietly stroking himself in his baggy sweatpants phase. Great.
I was only three stops away from my destination and the train wasn't empty enough for me to be scared, so I uncomfortably turned up my music and began scrolling aimlessly through the pictures on my phone.
A few minutes later I received a light tap on my shoulder,
"Hey..." A disheveled looking business man with an almost comical untied tie and scruffy hair,
"I would move to another car if I were you..." He smiled.
Now, my heart knows he was trying to look out for me in a valiant effort to shelter me from Wank Master 5000. But his words really pissed me off.
Instead of asking this man to stop, he asked me to leave.
Now I'm not saying it was his duty to stand up for me, nor was I expecting it. Heck, this is New York, if a person collapses inches away from a large crowd, nobody bats an eyelid (except for myself and one other gentleman....but that's a whole other story, which you can find on my other website www.newyorkershavenosouls.com).
I wish he hadn't said a word. For the moment he opened his mouth, he unwittingly approved this mans actions and condemned my own.
Somehow it was my fault for being there, provoking this man in some way, and not his fault for being a complete failure of a human being.
I was in the wrong place, as if I had walked into his bedroom and he had every right to be rubbing away.
Instead of telling rapists not to rape, we tell victims to not get raped.
I'm over it.
