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Photo: Straphanger Napping On Stranger's Shoulder Renews Internet's Faith In Humanity
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 6, 2013
Modified Nov 6, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 6, 2013
Modified Nov 6, 2013
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We are of the belief that the subway exists to get us from Point A to Point B, and if some people want to eat brie or kick back with a beer or even expose their bare feet while riding, well, god bless 'em and just don't sit too close to us and also feel free to send pics of said people to [email protected]. However, some people seem to get a lot more out of this whole mass transit thing—like a renewed sense of faith in humanity. This is apparently what happened after a photo of a black man sleeping against an orthodox Jewish man's shoulder went viral via Reddit last week. How many Facebook likes can change the world?
According to The Daily News, it takes approximately 1.3 million “likes” and 172,563 shares on Facebook. Oscar "Isaac" Theil, 65, tells them he was on his way home from the Upper East Side to the Kensington section of Brooklyn on the Q train last Thursday night when an unidentified man fell asleep on his shoulder for more than a half hour. When someone asked him whether he wanted to wake him up, Theil responded, "He had a long day so let him sleep. We've all been there."
The Redditor who shot the photo said he was touched that Theil wasn't grossed out when a stranger made physical contact with him: "It was just more that New Yorkers, especially in the subway, don't want to touch people or have them get in their personal space. That was striking to me and made me smile and I thought was a very nice gesture."
While it was a nice gesture, has the bar really been set that low that someone putting up with a minor annoyance is worthy of overwhelming praise across the Internet and mainstream media? Are we so inundated with tasteless Halloween costumes, crack-addled mayors that being awkwardly civil "inspires" us? Theil seems bewildered by the response: "I just kept steady so he would be able to sleep," he said. "It wasn't easy to do because he was dead weight." This wasn't like some Brogrammer hand-picked a homeless man to teach him how to code—Theil just acted like a generous, non-germaphobic human being while someone took a very uncomfortable-looking nap on his arm.
But hey, if this inspires even one person to be a little friendlier on the subway, maybe that's good enough. Having said that, there are a lot sweeter ways of sleeping on the train.
Tagged
feelings
humanity
MTA
sleeping
subway
the Internet
train
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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