The Pulse of the Crowd

I was standing in the back of a crowded subway car this morning, squeezed between a stranger’s backpack and the sliding doors. The train was screeching against the tracks, a chaotic, metallic rhythm that seemed to vibrate right through the soles of my shoes. Usually, I would have reached for my phone to tune it all out, but for some reason, I just let myself sway with the movement. I realized then that we spend so much of our lives trying to stand perfectly still, trying to resist the push and pull of the world around us. But there is a strange kind of freedom in letting go of that control. When you stop fighting the current and start moving with the collective hum of the city, you stop being an observer and start being a part of the song. It is messy and loud, but it is undeniably alive. Do you ever find yourself losing your own rhythm just to match the beat of the people around you?

José J. Rivera-Negrón has captured that exact feeling of surrender in his work titled Rhythm in Black & White. It reminds me that even in the middle of a roar, we can find our own quiet space to move. Does this image make you want to dance or just stand still and listen?