Life was so much easier when I was a straphanger.

The danger of riding on the subways alone late at night, sidestepping panhandlers, the noise, and the ever-present urine odor are all things that I would gladly accept again, if only I could avoid getting behind the wheel of my car every day.

Growing up in New York, everything was accessible for the price of a token. (Yes, I know that they use Metro Cards now, but I’m talking about the 70’s and 80’s). New York City’s much maligned transportation system provided me with the mobility to go to work in Manhattan, date a girl from Queens, and enjoy an amusement park in Brooklyn, while living in the Bronx.

I didn’t know how good I had it.

Since moving with my family to Pennsylvania, about a dozen years ago, we’ve had to rely on cars to get everywhere.

We started with one car, but soon realized that that just wouldn’t do, so we bought a second one. Last year, one of my daughters started driving, so now, we have three cars in the driveway.

None of them are new and all of them need work.

I used to think that springing for a set of tires was expensive, until I had to buy twelve. Tack on the costs of insurance, gas, routine maintenance, and the inevitable major work that needs to be done to keep these clunkers on the road and we’re talking about a small fortune.

Four tokens please.

A steady migration away from cities has been going on for years, but the amount of investment in public transportation has not kept pace. When I moved here in 1998, there had been talk going on for years about a rail system between the Poconos and New York.

They’re still talking.

The talk isn’t believed though, as illustrated by the results of an online poll conducted by our local newspaper, The Pocono Record, where 49% of respondents did not expect to see rail service in our area within their lifetimes.

Many locals drive or ride a bus to commute to and from their jobs in New York, but each of those alternatives is a time-consuming and expensive proposition.

A rail system wouldn’t help me with my current commute, but it would provide a more cost-effective alternative for many.

We have been slow to recognize the importance of improved infrastructure. Hopefully, we can change that.

I was delighted to read about the recent developments in high-speed rail planning with the requests that have been made for stimulus money for these efforts. Like the building of New York City’s marvelous subway system, these high-speed rail initiatives will take time to construct and implement, but it’s encouraging to see that we are headed in the right direction.

I never thought that I’d miss asking for, “Four tokens, please.”

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How’s the public transportation where you live?

Is investment in high-speed rail a worthwhile use of our tax dollars?
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Hedge words or phrases like “perhaps”, “maybe”, or “I don’t know” have been dropped from your vocabulary long ago. Who needs them? You have uncovered all of the answers.

The doubts and fears that limit the potential of the rest of us are no longer concerns of yours. You don’t just forward forceful arguments. No, that wouldn’t be nearly enough. There can be no room for debate.

Your opinions rise to the level of certitude because, after all, there is no question that you are right.

You believe that those who disagree with you are misinformed, ignorant, lost, or worse.

You believe that all nonbelievers – the good people as well as the bad – are doomed.

You believe in a Grand Plan, and you speak as if you’ve read the unpublished manuscript.

You know that yours is the only way.

How difficult life must have been for you before you knew everything.

I have a friend who is very into her religion. She spends more time in church than I do watching baseball, which means that she’s there a lot. I accompanied her to a service once. It felt as if I had been dropped into heavenly Hillsboro of Inherit the Wind fame. There was lots of enthusiasm in that room and some in attendance were even overcome with the spirit. I had never seen that in person.

The service went on for so many hours that I no longer worried about seeming rude by getting up from my seat, so I did. I had to. I went outside for a smoke.

I’ve known my friend for over thirty years, so what she believes and how she thinks are not secrets to me. She has her beliefs and I have mine, so we move on.

We’ve had only one real falling out.

One day, we were having one of those circular discussions that occur when one side cannot even consider what the other side is saying. The discussion nearly ended when I mentioned that one of us was going to hell, or at least purgatory.

Now, I’m not what you would call a true believer. I have my views of this life and the next, but I don’t stick to the company line. There are a lot of ifs, ands, or buts in my vocabulary and even more questions. If I know anything, it’s that my questions cannot be answered by anyone walking the earth.

I’ll just have to wait and see.

And pray.

I went on to explain that the problem with everyone running around insisting that theirs is the one and only true religion is the implication that everyone else is pretty much screwed – no matter how well they’ve lived their lives.

No god that I pray to would be down with that.

We see it all of the time in movies.

Hundreds or thousands of determined people congregate to protest some perceived injustice. The homogeny of the crowd’s state of mind is congealed as the shouts of the loudest voices among them are echoed and cheered.  The announcement and reaction to the onset of war in Gone With The Wind is one example:

“It’s war! It’s war!”

“Yahoo! We’ll whip those yanks in 6 months!”

But it’s not only in the movies. People gather together because they share a cause. There have been protests for or against just about anything you could think of, including: Dr. King’s March on Washington, this year’s Tax Day protest, Vietnam Era anti-war marches, The Million Man March, and even the opening of the Michael Jackson film “This Is It”.

The media coverage of protests is always the same. They pick a side and file their reports from their selected point of view. The lens through which they look determines whether the protesters are cast as radicals or patriots; rabble rousers or concerned citizens; right or wrong. The media may not implicitly make these judgments, but the selection of who is quoted or put in front of the camera tells us more about the views of the reporter than of the protesters themselves.

These days, we don’t have to leave our seats in order to participate in a protest. Social media has enabled us to chime in via a retweet or a Facebook Like, but those options haven’t replaced the old fashioned pick up a sign and march method of protesting. I’m guessing that there is more to participating in a march than the need to get the word out. There must be something in it for the participants.

I’m guessing because I’ve never done it.

Have you?

A few months ago, I put this question to my Facebook friends and received these two replies:

If we judge them on their ultimate success or failure, some causes are deemed to have more merit than others. Still, there’s little doubt that social activism can bring about change. The change may come slowly, but it does come.

If this is true, why are there so many non-participants, like me?

• Is it that we do not feel strongly enough about any of the questions of the day?
• Is it that we assume that someone else will do it for us?
• Do we feel that things will work themselves out?
• Do we use our votes to get our point across?
• Or are we just too damn busy?

I don’t know why I haven’t felt strongly enough about an issue to let my feet do the talking.  Maybe, I’m just not a slogan shouting, sign carrying, big crowd loving type of guy.

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Have you ever participated in a protest?
What was the outcome?

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