If left to habit, I will walk around looking 2 feet ahead of me, at the ground. I don’t know why, it’s just where my eyes naturally go. So I do my best to remember to look up. It’s something I have to work at, and it never fails to pay off.

 

Last Friday, I had a meeting in Hollywood and took the train in, to avoid traffic. Since I love public transportation, this is something I truly enjoy doing. And I even took my camera along, just in case. I fully expected to experience diversity during the ride. That’s how it always goes. There’s some awesome entertainment on the subway. But on that particular day, my train ride left me feeling depressed. Disappointed. You see, there were several passengers blatantly disobeying simple train rules – like eating on-board and playing music aloud. But I could’ve overlooked those folks. It was the two kids with a baby that really got to me.

 

I didn’t even notice them at first. They looked like they were high-school-aged. I never saw the baby, but when she cried, she had that newborn sound. Her crying made me think she couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 months old. And her cries were natural. I wasn’t bothered by any of it. What did bother me was the guy screaming at the baby, “Quit complaining! F#*%!”

 

 

I stopped breathing for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. I looked around to get a good look at him, then positioned myself so that he was in my periphery. Since I knew my phone wouldn’t work in the train tunnel, I scanned the area for the emergency call button. Once I found it and memorized its location, I went back to keeping that kid in my sight. I didn’t know if he’d do anything more than yell, and I prayed he wouldn’t. The way I figured it, that baby was already screwed. If that’s the guy responsible for her little life, she’s gonna have a rocky road. I kept them in my sight until I reached my stop. By the time I got off the train, there had been nothing but quiet coming from their seats. As I lumbered up the stairs to Hollywood Boulevard, I thought, “Babies raising babies.” I had forgotten to take a single picture.

 

After my meeting in Hollyweird, I dreaded getting on the train home. But I went down the steps to the subway and waited by the outbound tracks. Before the train arrived, I started looking up. That’s when I noticed it: Art.

 

 

And Beauty.

 

 

Once I started looking up, my perspective improved. By the time I leveled my gaze at the people around me, all I saw was beauty. Everyone on that platform was just plain gorgeous.

 

If you’re thinking I could have, should have done something when that kid yelled at that baby, I don’t disagree. That’s a lapse for which I have to forgive myself. I’m working on it. I’m also sending out prayers to that unseen child. I pray for those too-young parents as well. Lord knows, the 3 of them need all the help they can get.

 

When I reached the last station, climbed the monster stairs and emerged into sunlight, I was still gazing up – at trees. At rooftops. At infinite sky. It occurred to me that during their time riding the subway, and probably after, those babies with a baby never once bothered to look up. What a pity.

 

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