The youth are only one aspect of Philadelphia’s growing problem in violence. A week ago, a cab driver from Germantown was shot in broad daylight and killed. Public transit stories have also resulted in bloodshed. On March 28th, Sean Conroy, 36, died following a confrontation with a group of teens at the Septa Market Frankford stop. His attackers mercilessly punched him until he was knocked unconscious. Later, when police pronounced him dead, they discovered he only had $36 in his wallet. The violence in Philadelphia has brought the city nicknamed the City of Brotherly Love down to its knees. For the visitors and workers that commute to Philadelphia on a daily or even weekly basis, the potential for violence has left people to wonder…when will it change? 

What can we do to fix the problem? Residents of Philadelphia blame the problem on the youth. The number of dropouts in Philadelphia has been rising steadily, and residents fear the youth who loiter. And no one says what they’re really thinking. Does he want to attack me?  The community of Philadelphia used to be a friendly one. The sirens wail, throughout the day and night, and the sound is so familiar, so commonplace in this city, that no one reacts.

Sometimes, we need a reaction.

Stacy Lipson

The subway car was jammed with riders. Everywhere I looked, I saw riders anxious to leave the subway. One rider was tuned into his iPod and started bobbing his head along with the music. Another rider, a tall man wearing a pale blue shirt, tended to his son. 

Without warning, the subway car came to a halt. A voice came over the loudspeaker.

"Please do not panic. We are experiencing mechanical difficulties."

A man in his late fifties began to protest: "I have a place I have to be," he said. The woman sitting next to him responded.

"We all have a place we have to be," she said.

I watched all of this exchange as a silent observer. A toddler in the back of the car started to cry. 

Over an hour later, the subway car began to move. People started to gather their belongings in order to exit the car.

Later, as I reflected on the subway mishap, I realized how crazy my fellow riders had acted. Despite being in the subway car for over an hour, not one person in the car had made any effort to befriend their fellow passengers. Rather, the only words being exchanged were complaints—complaints about Septa, which runs the public transit system in Philadelphia.

No one bothered to thank the subway car conductors who had tirelessly worked to bring the subway car back to life.

I give those workers so much credit. While we had been trapped underground, they worked frantically to free us. One worker even went as far as to wedge himself between the car and the track in an attempt to get us back on schedule.

Septa subway conductors are reminders to all of us that heroes exist in all kinds of different forms.

Thank you, Septa, for getting me to my Sunday destination as safely as possible.

Stacy Lipson