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Bus One Seven
Voices Carry: Urban Psychology Exposed
by
The modern metropolis breeds everything from cultural and employment diversity to inventive crimes and clogged traffic lanes. While these characteristics are givens, there are many unspoken characteristics that make city life a true joy when compared to the relatively safe and predictable nature of good `ole country living. However, hidden beneath that joy is the psychology of society, where people with little voice search for an opportunity to be heard. Specifically, the two most recognizable unheard citizens are the "Transit Captors" and the "Go Aheads." Prior to your next trip to the city, read through this brief analysis of urban psychology and prepare to meet your neighbors. Sit down, hold on and keep your hands in the bus.
The Captive Audience
Once you get past the joys of regularly scheduled urban transit, you run face-to-face with the less attractive side of riding in a noisy box with a bunch of strangers. While the opportunity to catch a bus to the downtown core every 15 minutes is truly a gift, it also comes packed with the increased chance that you'll receive a free-form soliloquy describing the intimate details of someone's life -uncut and uncensored. Unlike chance encounters at a bookstore or coffee shop, the introductions you're likely to meet on public transit are far from chance. Whether it's an old-timer with a beef against the city's taxing policies or an overzealous youngster needing to solidify their role as a budding asshole, chances are you're going to get an earful. When you encounter this type of individual, you better hope that traffic is light because you've just become the victim of a Transit Captor.
When I first arrived in the city I was sure that public transit would be filled with a motley and talkative collection of kids, the elderly, indigents and those in transition following the dismissal of their driver's license. While this definitely proved accurate on a number of journeys, this anticipated combination of characters turned out to be rather mild mannered when compared to other unexpected oddities, such as disgruntled administrative assistants and twitchy food service workers.
There is nothing more debilitating than feeling powerless, yet for many of the people using transit, this is exactly how they experience life. When facing a 15 to 20 minute ride packed in a bus with 50 other people, it's quite unsettling to listen to a city employee discuss his unpredictable bowels or office politics. It's even more disheartening when this person talks to themselves all the while knowing they have you for at least one more stop. You are the audience that can't budge; the audience that has little choice but to listen to their rhetoric. In fact, this situation is the only means for the Transit Captor to ever garner an audience. And for that, this odd collection of forgotten faces is both sad and frustrating.
Transit Captors are lost souls who see themselves as having little impact in the world, teetering on the edge of their own happiness. When you encounter these folks, keep it safe and sane and be patient. They will respect your civility, if executed smoothly and without defensiveness. Still, it's a tough situation to face, so be prepared by bringing an undecipherable book, magazine or some other instrument to occupy your attention. When all else fails, adopt a glass-eyed stare or unsettling facial tick to ward off the would-be aggressors. At the very least it just might help you empathize with those you're attempting to avoid.
Go Ahead Punk. Make My Day.
The second anomaly in our line-up of urban psychological profiling is the street kid, transient or hardened homeless resident that has reached the boiling point. The streets of the city are filled with a wide variety of colorful personalities, but there are definitely regulars among the crowds. Yes, the streets clamor with busy tie-clad urbanites stuffing down teriyaki bento before heading back to the bank. But they also fill with a mass of intriguing and unsettled metropolitan décor; particularly the recognizable faces, carts, packs, signs and expletives of the street people.
While managing common panhandlers is an art form nearly impossible to master while remaining at peace with oneself, it's a common encounter for downtown visitors, whether regulars or tourists. Panhandlers have little voice in the world, and far less power, so their face-to-face proposition for cash always comes with a well-oiled gaze. It's a tough sell -absolutely nothing in exchange for your spare change- but for many of these folks it's all the voice they have.
Mixed in skillfully among downtown's panhandlers, there remains a fascinating phenomenon that manifests itself when the call to disruption and protest is all that a street person can hear. My colleagues and I have designated this form of protester as the "Go Ahead." Quite simply, this is the title awarded to a street person who crosses a roadway quite deliberately in front of oncoming motor vehicles. The Go Ahead takes a dramatic stroll through cross walks -sometimes even in the middle of the street- with little regard for traffic signals or moving vehicles. .
Yes, it's dangerous, but what other options exist for a person who truly believes they have very little say in the world? Why should the needs of privileged motorists get in their way? The Go Ahead says, "You're just going to have to sit your ass tight." They make their statement by walking across a path whenever they please; enlisting an especially slow gate that clearly and effectively communicates their intentions. They're letting people know that if no one is concerned with their plight -whatever or however legitimate that may be- then the Go Ahead has little concern for someone's need to get to Nordstrom's to return a pair of purple rattlesnake skin boots.
For the Go Ahead, there is a voice of resistance, no matter how weak. For the Transit Captor there is a voice of control. Both feel little control or empowerment yet when given the opportunity, they flex their last muscle with all the might they can muster.
The next time you're taking a break from generating traffic or waltzing through the metro circus, keep your eye out for these two social phenomenon and inspect them carefully (just don't be too freaky or someone's bound to kick your ass). These metropolitan commoners may be discomforting to cope with, but there's a very good chance they'll have a very direct affect on you. Whatever the case may be, know them and understand them because some day, they may very well be you.
was recently indicted on charges of "tampering with the elemental substance of nature." He currently writes from his cell at the Umatilla County Justice Center in Pendleton, Oregon.
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