"Congratulations," the comment began.
And I nearly deleted it. I figured it was some sort of spam. Congratulations, you've been pre-approved for a Platinum Visa Checkcard. Congratulations, you've been entered to win a free trip to Europe. Congratulations, You Won!!!
But then I read it again. "Congratulations," wrote Todd Collins, "you're about to become a car hit statistic!"
Sheesh, man. Thanks.
He was referring to my enthusiasm over listening to an iPod during my commute to and from work. The music moves me. I haven't yet completely leapt into wild and free dance, but I have let loose some involuntary and harmless handclaps.
"Appears that the lawmakers are trying to pass regulations disallowing the crossing of streets while listening to pods in NYC," Todd explained.
The article states:
The language is strangely poetic and the image conjured is almost funny. In fact, it does make me smile. Millions of people everywhere, walking blindly, with arms outstretched in zombie fashion, magnetically drawn to speeding buses. I smile.
But, really, it's rather frightening that you'd send me this, Todd, because I've always thought that it would happen this way. Not by plane crash or heart attack or old age or overdose, but, at least once a day, I envision my death occurring as I cross a New York City street. Seriously. I step out into that busy, black asphalt and I feel it coming. I suddenly sense it, I look up to see that the signal is somehow red. I try to react, but I can't. I'm stuck, frozen, until the speeding bus connects and lifts me into the air. This is what I see as I cross Madison Avenue. Blood and teeth and bones and city street, the end. My body crumpled into a jagged ball like a bad rough draft, the end.
Once a day, at least, I see it happening this way. And what does it mean that I see this, and what does it mean that you've now congratulated me on it?
Well, I hope we're both wrong. Maybe it'll be the other way: Someone pushing me onto the train tracks.
If it happens that way, I hope I'm listening to a good song — something with handclaps and horns and gorgeous guitars.
Tech-consuming New Yorkers trudge to work on sidewalks and subways like an army of drones, appearing to talk to themselves on wireless devices or swaying to seemingly silent tunes. "I'm not trying to intrude on that," [New York State Sen. Carl] Kruger said. "But what's happening is when they're tuning into their iPod or Blackberry or cell phone or video game, they're walking into speeding buses and moving automobiles. It's becoming a nationwide problem."
