A crowded subway station, masses of people converging on the same spot every two to three minutes. And yet, for all the bobbing and weaving, there are no near misses. Somehow, we make our different backgrounds and paths work. White, black, yellow, brown; gay and straight; rich and poor: all working in near unison to accomplish a single goal.

And then someone who is different enters the fray, and things immediately break down. Escalators back up because a family of tourists is out of sync with the people around them. Lines form at the fare gate because the person ahead didn’t understand how to use the Exit Fare machine before trying to leave.

The well-oiled machine called the Daily Commute starts to stress, and suddenly we are all too aware of the people around us. Everything we took for granted from the moment we entered the system fades away…but it’s only a momentary blip! The tourists move on, a few souls grumble out loud at the man who held things up at the exit. A quick return to normal.

And behind it all, the next trains arrive, masses of people converge on the same spot again. And again.

Why does every other aspect of life have to be so different?