To the Three Strangers In NYC Who Once Basically Saved My Life

So many news stories about heartless people. Here’s a random true story about good people.

It was around 2007 when I was in an NYC subway train and had my first panic attack.

It was a weekday morning and I had spent the previous night at a friend’s apartment in Park Slope. At the time, I worked at Quick & Simple magazine, Hearst’s (now defunct) weekly offshoot of Good Housekeeping. Our midtown office hadn’t yet moved into the renowned Hearst Tower (and sadly we never would) but we were still in Midtown West and so that was my final destination.

It started a few seconds after the train left Brooklyn. I was standing up, rummaging through the messy AF contents of my twentysomething brain when I started to feel… weird.

I suddenly felt claustrophobic and light-headed. I became very aware that there was no nearby exit and that the next stop wasn’t for, what felt like, an eternity. The individual faces of the people surrounding me meshed into a blur. My hand loosely on the pole, I started to fold forward, like you do after running a race and you need to catch your breath.

A guy sitting near me must’ve noticed my pale face or my melting figure or something, because he tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the seat he was sitting on. “Sit down?” I shook my head yes as he got up and let me take his spot.

First stranger 🙌, thanks for the seat.

As soon as we pulled into the first stop, not caring what station it was, I pulled myself up and lurched out the doors. But I still felt faint and… At this point, I only remember that a train had arrived at the same time as ours on the opposite track. A man and woman stepped off, saw me, rushed over and grabbed my hand. “Are you okay?” I shook my head no.

They helped me up the stairs, and one of them ran outside and came back in with a bottle of water. They stayed with me for a few minutes as I drank and found my breath, and could explain to them what happened (or at least what I assumed it was). And then they did this.

“Can we catch a cab for you? Make sure you get to wherever you’re going okay?”

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