Pants on fire

Previously, I said that, regardless of what Al Qaeda has done or threatened to do, I would not stop riding the subway. That proclamation was in response to the London bombings. But this weekend, after watching a live press conference about a "specific" bomb threat on the Manhattan subways just a half hour before I had to be in TriBeCa for a law firm dinner, I turned myself into a bold-faced liar: I purposely avoided taking the subway. Perhaps irrationally, I opted for a cab instead, thereby wasting $7 and, as a consequence of spending 10 minutes hailing a cab on Broadway during rush hour, arriving at the dinner late.

In my defense, I did ride the A train later on that night to the airport, ignoring the threat with the help of a few glasses of wine for an honored guest who insisted I be at JFK to greet her. Although the two of us traversed most of lower Manhattan and plenty of Midtown and Central Park over the course of the weekend, we didn't take the subway but once (the return trip to the airport). Frankly, I felt a bit ashamed for not utilizing public transportation as I normally would, but cabs seemed the safer alternative given the circumstances (not to claim that riding in a NYC cab is "safe" by any means).

If given a choice, I prefer to think of myself as someone who would not succumb to such a threat, as someone who would not allow my liberty to be compromised by those whose goal it is to destroy that liberty. But like most rational people, I have my fears -- extreme heights, sharks in the swimming pool, and dolls -- and am inclined, in most scenarios, towards self-preservation. Despite the additional security or perhaps because of it, it just felt more sensible to avoid the trains altogether rather than to make a point about my willingness to take risks or to stand up to foreign terrorists. That, and I wanted to make sure my guest would come back for another visit.