I have to tell you about a brilliant little moment that happened today. I was on a train, at an hour in which far too many people take the train, leaving us all sardinically resentful of one another's smells, oversized totebags, and inter-seasonal viruses. This was, or would have been, evidenced by an isolated high-pitched sneeze from the far end of the car, -except- that from the far side of the other end, someone yelled out a brazen "bless you!" And maybe because it was Friday, or maybe because everyone on the train was under the influence of psychoactive substances, or maybe simply because they (we) were just tired of sardinic resentment, but a ripple effect of "bless you!" made its way from one end of the train to the other-- maybe, not kidding, fifty times, before a "thank you" was laughed out from the other end.
I relay this to you now not for sentimental chicken-soup-for-the-mass-transit-soul reasons, but because, immediately after my heart was warmed by a rare and fleeting moment of solidarity among strangers, I thought "damn, if only I could have podcasted that."
And I didn't (podcast that). But John Collier might be the next best thing.