A Woman on a Folded Chair

A a decade or so ago, as a recent NYC transplant, I would take the NJ Path train into 33rd Street in Manhattan for a position as a Paralegal at a small Park Avenue firm. Each day, as the doors to the subway cars opened, I saw an elderly woman sitting on a fold-out chair with a plastic cup in her hand, and often singing gospel songs.

Never really directly asking for money, but certainly that was the secondary goal. More importantly, each day, she would greet the morning commuters with kind words of compassion, and encouragement, despite, her own personal situation.

The subway was cold; with limited lighting, and always crowded. Most New Yorkers, kept their eyes straight ahead and certainly avoided any eye contact with anyone, let alone, a woman in a folded chair.

Since I was new to the City, our eyes often met and one day I stopped and said hello. She returned my hello, with thank you for speaking, and said: "where is that beautiful young lady that often walks besides you as you leave the train". For a moment, I was speechless, I didn't realize that Ms. Evans was that keen and sharp about who I traveled with. Anyway, I said, the young woman, was my fiance, and Ma'am, God bless you, do you need anything"?

At that last question, her brow changed, and for an instant she got quite serious, and "said, son, the situation of my life has been what it is, and now, I try to give a little something back, to others, whether or not, they return my kindness".

As the months progressed, I continued to acknowledge Ms. Evans as I passed her in the morning, and often dropped a few bucks in her cup. One day, Ms. Evans was not there. I looked around and checked to see if she had moved. Finally, I asked the subway workers, what happened. They said, by order of the NYC Transit Authority, she had to be removed from the subway--people complained about her being in the way and disturbing "their" morning commute.

Certainly, most people would assume she was a homeless person (and she may have been), but that's not what I got. What I got, and others who listened was kindness, encouragement, hope, faith, and sweet songs.

That's what our society has come to, we tolerate crowded subway cars, screaming people on cell phones, high priced dinners and drinks, big cars, and expensive vacations. But, a woman on a folded chair, dispensing kindness, with a song, no, that's something, needed to addressed by the powers that be.