fight or flight

so, last night on the subway, i had an "incident." let me first give a little background on the subway in Boston, otherwise known as "the T." it's very convenient and pretty fast. actually, i have no idea what i would do without it because it's not how i get everywhere. but specifically, my route from home to school and vice versa is not the best route on the T. it goes through some bad neighborhoods, though my neighborhood itself is safe. in general, i enjoy riding the T, as it gives me time to read but at the same time, safety could definitely be improved. read below.

now, on to the story. i was coming home from downtown around 8:30. not even late, but late enough, i guess. as i sat down on the train, a drunk man sat right next to me. he reeked of alcohol and could barely sit up straight. now, the normal person would have probably moved, but i don't know why i didn't. then, he started talking to this couple sitting on the other side of him. they got off at their stop, which is when he turned his attention to me. as he's teetering back and forth on the train, he's asking me to come home with him. i look around the train and no one can look me in the eye. not the two guys a few seats away. not the one big guy sitting across from me. but who i do see is an MBTA (mass bay transportation authority) person. that's when my fight or flight mechanism went whack. again, he asked me to come home with him. i looked him straight in the eye and said, "NO." (it wasn't a timid "no" but a rather strong one) he then kept on asking me and coming closer to me. if the MBTA worker hadn't ocme over and told him to get off of the train, i woulda pushed him down. yeah, he was bigger than me and yeah, i'm stupid, but somehow, i wasn't so much scared as i was ready.

well, so, he got off the train with the MBTA employee and probably just got sent off on his way. strangely enough, or rather unfortunately, this is not my first, or second, encounter with a threatening man on the subway. first, it was a man who threatened a group of friends and i with a gun he supposedly had in his bag. second, it was a drunk guy who again tried to approach me.

why am i telling this story? i have no idea. it was a strange feeling last night as i was walking the two blocks from the subway to my apartment. i felt as though i had just survived something, yet that i had gone temporarily insane. why did i not feel afraid of this man? why did i speak up to him so strongly? what would i have really done if no one stepped in? and why do none of the men in boston have any guts to help someone who was obviously in a not-so-good situation?

yeah, so that's my story from last night. then, i studied anatomy and watched pretty in pink. wow, my saturday nights are just rockin'.