Subway Prayer (a message in a bottle)

        The New York City public transportation system is one of the prime spots for advertisement. No matter what the product is, my eyes will always go to the banners of ads above the seats, the posters mounted by the doors and on either side of the train’s connecting paths. Even the large posters in the station catch my eye as they zoom by from stop to stop. Familiarizing yourself with the Metro ads is one of the more time consuming things to do during your commute. In our discussion of these posts, we’ve highlighted the placement of the object we’ve found, and how a location with high traffic is often the site of interesting objects - they are likely to have an audience. 

        The subway system is, of course, also full of other texts, often times vandalism, that are made publicly available for commuters. Often times, these are devil faces drawn onto the star of the latest hit TV show, blacked out teeth on commercial posters, foul language bubbles coming out of characters mouths, etc. Rarely do you see the plea for peace, the writing that stops and makes you consider who wrote it. New Yorkers are beautiful contradictions as citizens, for we are built to dismiss the concrete and grueling city around us, and yet have been proven to have the largest capacity for love and selflessness.

        I am reminded of seeing a New York man help a woman with a suitcase through the subway turnstile. She got through the other side easily, and the man said to her: “See, we’re kind.” She responded, “I know we’re kind. I live here.” 

While riding the train a few months ago, I spotted this penned on one of the train placards. 

        The sign was a voiceless, hopeful “call to action.” I took this picture earlier in the semester, when protests in Ferguson were really beginning to flare up. There are similar circumstances happening now in Baltimore. The person who wrote “Pray” on the sign may have not been directly responding to these events, although it was read in relation to the climate of our country. At any rate, it is interesting to me that the author is unknown, this isn’t a specific request of one person from another - there is more of a plea to the world at large, a larger desire for change of behavior, rather than the specific change of behavior in one or two people. With the plea for hope is an inherent sense of sadness. The author is calling out to the void, the darkness, the unknown. Who knows who will see this sign - it’s a message in a bottle...

        The sign makes me think of Dorothy Day’s revelation of praying with her eyes open, of “being able to see the world around her, and the Godliness that is inherent in her surroundings.” Have we stopped praying all together? The call for prayer on this sign is clearly asking for prayer beyond the self - probably for the goodness of the world, for those who are hurt and suffering. However, Day’s prayer seems more active - praying with your eyes open is re-positioning your vision of the world, while this sign seems more passive (see Liebman contradiction below). While the sign doesn’t imply the sense of suffering Day thought necessary to achieve selflessness, it does appeal to something beyond the self. It also is somewhat in line with what Joshua Liebman calls the harmonious tradition - the ability to live in a world where all religions can exist, respecting the others, with man as a “collaborator” with God. This is moving away from the inactive, submissive man who waits for God’s action. While prayer is certainly religious, it is not unique to one singular religion. Thus, the sign is somewhat inline with harmonious tradition. However, Liebman would argue that prayer is not enough. We cannot wait for God, but must work with him. As Gandhi said “be the change you want to see in the world.” We must pray, but be active along with our prayer. We must pray for change that comes from ourselves, not from the “fatherly” divine.