nothing exciting [enough] ever happens here.

while i was crossing fifth avenue this morning, around 8:45 AM, a person on the opposite side of the street started jumping up and down on the sidewalk and waving her arms at the driver of a bus that was turning left into the crosswalk spanning 34th street. at the same time, a number of other people on the sidewalk started shouting, and someone ran out into the road. i was in the middle of a cluster of bodies and couldn't see until i got across the street that a man in a wheelchair had been in the middle of the crosswalk when the bus started to turn, and the bus had basically sideswiped him: his chair was pressed up against the side of the bus, his foot was underneath it, and if the bus had turned any farther to the left it might have toppled him over on his side and crushed him under a rear wheel. several people on his side of the street rushed out to help him, and the bus driver stopped the engine and leaned out the window to make sure everyone was all right. people on my side of the street went as far as the curb, to see what was happening, and then went on their way. most had expressions of genuine concern and upset on their faces.

one man, older, balding, gray suit, maroon tie, starbucks coffee in his left hand, pushed two women out of his way in his rush to see what had stopped a bus in the middle of the street and made someone scream. apparently, his internal build-up yielded disappointment at the actual scene--no blood, no broken limbs, no unrecognizably mangled twists of chrome or spray of splintered glass. as he turned away from the corner a second later, he sighed and rolled his eyes.

some folks are never satisfied.