The man that wasn’t hit by a train
Posted At:
Sun 24 Jun 2007 		Posted By:
Derek Nobuyuki信幸 Wallace
Categories:life , japan

This was first posted by me on Mixi and was to prompt discussion about the events of the other night.

I want to know your opinions on alcohol consumption… on social drinking culture…. on the expectation in social drinking culture… People get so drunk and are oblivious to their surroundings… and all too often they die…

98% of the time, the trains/subways in japan are NOT dangerous (although there have been a number of major train accidents here in the past 20 years)
but walking into an oncoming train after stupidly jumping down 4 feet onto the tracks… is another thing…

What’s your opinion?

This is an excerpt of an email I sent…
It was followed by discussion�
about the events unfolding in front of me before my very eyes�

——-
argh fucking drunks!
almost got hit by the subway
bc he jumped down to cross
platforms his friend yelling
scrambling to pull him up…
the subways lights glaring…
the horn blaring…
the friend looses his grip…
the man falls back onto the track…

i was worried he’d be electrocuted…
but apparently not…

at first i thought what a dumbass
jumping down into the tracks…
what if its electrified

then i thought
shit a train is coming…
hes not stupid enough to cross
onto those tracks is he?

he was

as people yell
and he scrambles
i was concerned for his safety…

as the subway train came to
an abrupt halt and his friend
pulled him out,
i felt more annoyed and
a little angry

what if i miss my connection?
my last train?
i had already spend a lot of
time rushing to catch these
trains and make these connections…
taking a taxi might cost
me 80 to 100 bucks! and a lot of
wasted time

if he died his family must pay
for the lost income of the train co.
but not for all the overpriced taxis

dont get me wrong…
im glad hes okay and not just to
spare us the trauma of witnessing
someone get hit before our eyes

but it obviously shows that im
perturbed by it all from the
huge inconveniences he puts on everyone.

but this should go to show that
excessive drinking.. adopting or accepting
a social culture of excessive drinking
can get you killed and place an undo
amount of inconvenience and burden
on others…
—————
みんな様、あなた達、あんたら、おまえら、you….

どう思う？ what do you think? what’s your opinion?

i:ll more opinion after more discussion…

but one more point i was discussing…

In the end, what i’m not happy about is that after
this is all said and done.. nothing has changed….

usually after a near death experience, people will change… at least try to affect some change in their lives…

but in this situation… the guy who didn’t even apologize… blissfully unaware of the situation he was in… will not change… probably won:t remember it… and if his drunken friend tells him, they:ll probably just laugh it off…

is it all for nothing??
sure it has impacted us a few meters away…
but unless it affects some positive change in the guy, it seems all for not… =(