The seven train at 9PM was perfect for dodging both rush hour crowds and late-night eccentric personalities. Expectedly, I managed to find a seat on the ends. A man hurried through the closing doors, barely squeezing through. He sat down near me, breathing heavily to recover from his 100 meter dash. The nauseating, musty, and harsh scent of tobacco permeated from his plain white T-shirt. The scent immediately drew my attention, while he sat comfortably, unknowing of the acrid crime that he committed.
The rest of the train ride was uneventful. My attention promptly deviated from the man to my music. Coincidentally, we got up at the same time to leave. An ivory white, label-less container fell from his pocket to the floor. I quickly picked it up and handed it back to him. As we were exiting the congested train station, he thanked me over and over again, praising the lord that there are good people in this world. I didn’t think much of it other than an insignificant act of kindness. Soon enough, however, I pieced the clues together and realized that I had given back his pack of cigarettes. I became remorseful for this insignificant act and its consequences. Did I, by giving back something that he deemed as valuable but I deemed as toxic, ultimately commit an act of unintentional malevolence?
I struggled with the question for quite a while. It wasn’t until I considered the issue from his perspective did I finally answer it. Objectively, smoking may be detrimental to his health, but that might be a risk that he was willing to take. He could be using cigarettes to relieve stress, socialize with others, or achieve the nicotine high that he lives for. Regardless, it would be wrong for me to deny his agency. The realization made me at peace with the world. Before, I would be disappointed if people act in ways that were at odds with my values, but I was able to examine their actions from their perspectives ever since.
The subway ride was a mere excursion; my realization was a true and fruitful odyssey.
This piece triggered many thoughts in my mind, which I am grateful for, not many short pieces as such stimulate the philosophical mind. Your brevity is remarkable, it is talent to say in a few words what others would say in 200 pages. Your moral dilemma here recalled the Socratic question: “would one give a madman his gun?”, and a similar type of moral question led you to a phenomenological standpoint on the issue- which drew me in further. Your oddysey was efficacious: it resulted into something and that is notable as well. The conventions of good and bad are always questioned and this piece best represents the relativism of beliefs and truth persisting in our cultures today.
Like Syed, I was struck how the narrative raised an issue of ethics–making your odyssey more inward than exterior (though related to the subway ride of the piece’s title). As a reader, I was particularly intrigued by the moment of confusion–of not *realizing* that the “ivory white, label-less” object was a pack of cigarettes. This image inflects the post with some mystery. Even after the box’s identity is revealed, its blankness continues to function, allowing you, as a writer, to turn the object at first into a material manifestation of a moment of connection between strangers, and then into a site for reflection.
Nice work.
Prof Kolb