Chivalry Is Not Dead in NYC

My commute home began as usual — yet another mundane hour-long trek up to Inwood. After stopping at the grocery and paying way too much for ingredients needed to prepare a healthy meal, I boarded the “A” train with my hands filled with two grocery bags, a purse, and a tote bag. No seats were available to my dismay and I usually don’t participate in commuter musical chairs/seat wars. Yes, if a seat is available I’ll take it. But I’m not about to run an elderly woman down, in an effort to rest my bum.

So I stood gripping the handrail while tuning out my fellow commuters with my MP3 player. While standing I noticed a tall black male seated directly in front of me, about five feet away. He sported gray New Balance sneakers, navy sweatpants, an overcoat, and a navy hoodie which he wore raised. We made eye contact and I could see that his lips were moving as if he was saying something. I just assumed that dude was either talking to himself, reciting rap lyrics loudly — which many young men annoyingly do on the train, or speaking to the woman gripping her unruly child behind me. So I shrugged it off and stood in my new comfy chocolate boots listening to the new Keyshia Cole in full New York City commuter mode — zoned out or at least emitting the appearance of zoned out as we continued.

I looked in the direction of my friend in the New Balance and again he was talking but this time he was motioning something with his hands. Finally I realized that he was actually offering his seat to me. So I walked over, graciously thanked him and took his seat. He said he’d been trying to get my attention since 59th street and I just stared at him the entire time. I explained that I assumed that he was talking to himself. The black woman across from me laughed. He responded with “What? Come on? Chivalry is not dead.” So he stood near the train doors as I sat. When a seat opened up for him to sit down he sat a couple of seat from me.

As I prepared to exit the train, I dug in my purse looking for my house key mistakenly dropping a piece of paper on the floor. My friend picked it up with immediately. He got off the train a stop ahead of me. I waved good-bye and he blew me a kiss and exited the train without a word.

After not receiving my paycheck on time and my supervisor assigning me yet another menial task not in my job description, this stranger’s expressions of kindness truly lifted my spirits. Thank you again.