Well, I hope Sassy is satisfied! This backpack debate has certainly been cathartic. I want to thank Patrick and Andy for their conscientious comments. Give ‘em some love, people.

I would like to say, I have absolutely no moral authority to make unilateral proclamations about how anyone else should behave on the T. I mean, I’m not sure I’d be able to bear the burden of being T-Etiquette Guru. What I’ve always thought about essential etiquette is that it’s intuitively obvious. If you are paying attention to what you’re doing, what others around you are doing, and what effects all these doings are having on each other, well, then that’s half the battle isn’t it?

Because etiquette is not some highfalutin behavioral accoutrement of the cultural elite, it’s a survival mechanism. If the goal is a measure of social harmony, etiquette is the means. Politeness is really the shortest distance between point A and point B. Or, if you prefer, it’s the oil that keeps the machine of culture humming along. Without it, things fall apart.

But it does require the development of a social conscience. Etiquette is institutionalized empathy. But we live in an omnipotence society, a Culture of Narcissism, in Christopher Lasch’s famous phrase, where self-fulfillment, not social harmony, is seen as the goal.

Social harmony is merely assumed, because intuitively everyone understands that without a high degree of social harmony, self-fulfillment becomes impossible. So there’s a paradox here. We’re going about it all backasswards. The foundations of self-fulfillment are to be found in social harmony. Without a degree of effort towards the goal of social harmony, we can’t achieve self-fulfillment. Because lack of empathy promotes fear of the Other, and fear promotes violence towards the other, and violence promotes further fear which promotes further violence, and so on. You can’t flourish in a society where fear is pervasive, where you feel your survival is at stake in even minor confrontations with the Other. And certainly survival is an issue. But it has more to do with ego-survival. Because your omnipotence is threatened when your real powerlessness is exposed in social interactions.

Remember: etiquette provides predictable outcomes. Politeness diffuses potential confrontations.

Etiquette is even more important in democratic societies, where it is an uncoerced expression of mutual deference, acknowledging equal status. In a society where men are free to act as they please, politeness carries weight.

Anywho. I have to say, aside from a slightly longer than ordinary wait for the red line Ashmont/Braintree train at Park, yesterday’s commute was smoother than usual. I was pleasantly surprised at Downtown Crossing on my way into town when the throng on the platform actually stood aside and let the passengers on the train get off first. I don’t know what secret quantum phenomena are at work in these things. I wish I did.

It may have been that the throng inside waiting to exit looked leaner and meaner and readier to rumble than our enemies on the other side of the sliding door. We may have had more Alphas on our side. Maybe the stink of our testosterone cut a path through the sea of estrogen on the platform. Dunno really. It was not out of politeness, necessarily, but it was close enough.

It does seem as though cities have personalities just like people do, and various moods, like us, too. Maybe it’s the weather, the day of the week, sunspots and ozone. Who knows? it’s probably an inconceivably complex combination of things. Still, I bet there’s a formula.

As for moods. I myself am back on my Saint John’s Wort, having gone off it for a couple of weeks after my trip to Sarasota. That and a good multivitamin and a daily workout regimen–45 minutes a day is all it takes, people, and it makes all the difference, believe me. Remember, your physical health and mental wellbeing affect the mood of the those around you, and ultimately the mood of the city itself.