Thursday, December 16, 2010

Black's not Beautiful

I hate, despise, abhor and every other negative term in existence having to drive at night on the streets and avenues and parkways of frum Brooklyn. These frum pedestrians, dressed in head to toe in unrelieved black, black gloves on their hands and black mufflers shading their faces, so that even what little light there is has no skin to reflect off of, have zero regard for the cars on these streets and whatever is less than zero regard for things like stoplights. And yes, they clearly have little regard for their own safety, and no knowledge of their own mortality.

On the highways and byways
That snake along and through
The Valley of the Dark Ghosts
I travel uneasily.
And yea though I travel through this Valley
of possible Death,
I shall fear that evil,
Feel it creep up along my spine
As I slowly inch forward
Through the spectres lurking.
There and yet not there,
black ghosts darting across streets
barely lit,
snaking in and around cars
parked and moving,
uncaring and unconcerned that death goes hunting
those of black garb,
in the murky shadows of darkest night.

Ebony ghosts that know not what they do,
that believe themselves above the fray,
oblivious to the turmoil left in their wake
as they pass at will,
not captives to red lights.

Yet once again I emerge out of that Valley,
and breath returns to lungs,
and hands lose their tension.
God has granted me safe passage,
and the Black Ghosts move on,
firm in their belief that they are invincible.

I beg of you God,
let me not be your instrument
to teach the folly of their ways
to the Black Ghosts.

11 comments:

safe driver & pedestrian said...

I think I say that prayer, too. It should be posted in every shul...but will the readers understand the message?

Eli said...

Wow wow! Best thing I think you've written and you've written some great postings. Just how I feel when I finally see the car moving out of Brooklyn.

Kayla said...

There are maybe some who on purpose cross against the lights but I think most of those dressed in black just don't think about how they look to drivers in the dark. Or maybe how they don't look. No one hits them during the day when they do the same thing so why should the night be different. Lots of them aren't drivers themselves so they don't see this from the drivers point of view.

Rae said...

I remember years back that one of my kids' schools had a special PTA fundraiser where they were selling special reflective strips to sew on the kids' jackets so they would be visible to drivers in the dark. It wasn't all that successful because a lot of mothers thought the strips ruined the looks of the jackets.

I did buy the strips but the kids caught some flack from friends about having them on their clothes.

A shame really because it's a darned good idea. But can you imagine some yeshiva requiring its bochrim to wear those strips? Or shul rabbanim issuing a "psak" that for pikuach nefesh anyone wearing black should be wearing the strips? Never going to happen. We still rely too much on miracles and a lot less on common sense.

JS said...

A rabbi I know wears a reflective vest and has his kids wear them too when walking home from shul on Shabbos because it's so dark and so poorly lit in some areas. It's really common sense.

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, common sense--that least common of all the senses.

tesyaa said...

I remember years back that one of my kids' schools had a special PTA fundraiser where they were selling special reflective strips to sew on the kids' jackets so they would be visible to drivers in the dark. It wasn't all that successful because a lot of mothers thought the strips ruined the looks of the jackets.

This type of attitude is what's wrong with the frum world. Appearances over reality.

Miami Al said...

"This type of attitude is what's wrong with the frum world. Appearances over reality."

No, that attitude is typical, it's silly and childish...

The problem is that in the frum community, that isn't the children arguing with parents...

It's parents arguing with schools...

frum single female said...

wow! i never thought of this issue!

Anonymous said...

We went to a vort in Brooklyn last night. I had read this post and jokingly told my husband to watch out because the residents, dressed all in black, were going to be black ghosts on the streets. I think he thought I was nuts until he got into the heart of Flatbush and it seemed like every 30 feet someone dressed in black was crossing the street in the middle of the block. On the block where the vort was being held we must have been doing 1 mile an hour if that much. Took us about 8 minutes to go one block because of all the people crossing illegally. My husband wasn't laughing by the end of the drive.

Allan said...

I wond4er if Hatzoloh would be brrave enough to issue a safety warning about all black clothing and getting hit by cars at night. Can see them doing it here but we're not an all black neighborhood. I don't think these pedestrians are doing this l'hachas, but the end result is the same as if they were, that someone is going to get injured because drivers can't see them.