I was returning this evening from Cleveland, Ohio, and I chose to take public transportation back to Manhattan from Newark International Airport. My flight was delayed, and I was not looking forward to taking AirTrain, New Jersey Transit, the PATH, and finally the subway home. When I reached the PATH station in Newark, I rushed to make the train that had just pulled in, eager to get home. To my disappointment, this PATH station did not take MetroCards or credit cards, and it had a fussy machine that accepted only freshly printed bills. After desperately trying to stuff my wrinkled five-dollar bill into the machine and not receiving even as much as an obnoxious error noise, I began to search frantically for coins.
All of a sudden, a man walked up to me and said, "Excuse me, do you speak Spanish?" When I told him that I did not, he said that I looked Puerto Rican. I smiled, "Really?" He told me he had come all the way from Connecticut and needed train fare for the PATH. Feeling lucky to have an excuse, I showed him my empty wallet and told him I was short the fare price as well. The man moved on to other passengers: "Excuse me, do you speak Spanish?" I resumed my hunt for coins in my jacket and jeans pockets, purse compartments, and wallet, but was unsuccessful. I only found four quarters, and the train fare was $1.50. I was about to run downstairs to the main station to find an ATM, when the same man stopped me and said, "How much do you need?" "50 cents," I answered. To my surprise, he reached into his pocket and handed me two quarters. I said, "But I thought you needed train fare too?"
"I do, but I have 50 cents, and you gotta go, so take it!" I thanked him and hurried onto the train.
Immediately, the guilt sank in: Did I really just take money from a man who was asking me for money?" The train started to move. Immediately, I realized I should have given him my crumpled five-dollar bill in return for his kind favor. Perhaps I should have given him my four quarters so that he could ride instead of me. After all, what made my train ride more important than his? But something tells me that it was important to him to help pay for my train fare. Maybe he thought that if I had had money in my wallet, I would have helped him out. Or perhaps he felt that his own altruism would justify his begging for money from complete strangers. I now wish I could go back and let him have my train fare instead. I will always remember what he did for me and will now think twice about helping a stranger in need. In the end, I guess we are all in need at one time or another.
