Statistically Speaking

February 2008
Night
Brooklyn, NY
Fulton G Station

On the bench next to me, sits a boy and girl. The boy is tall with an angled, gentle face. He listens patiently to the girl, olive and full, while she tells a story about injustice and identity politics. He responds with this:

Imagine every single person in the entire world. Statistically speaking, a certain percentage of them are going to be considered beautiful by a majority of the population. A certain percentage of this relatively large group will be considered very beautiful, beautiful enough to be professional models. Of this much smaller number, a percentage of them will be considered so beautiful that they could be supermodels. In this very small group, again statistically speaking, a small percentage of these supermodels are going to be incredibly smart. Of this group, an even smaller percentage is going to be sensitive and kind. Statistics ensure that there is a group, however small it may be, that is comprised of nothing but unbelievably smart, beautiful, kind people. And statistics also show us that if these people can exist, so too can the exact opposite.

I worked with one of those people. I barely even know how to describe her to you. Her smell alone could bring tears to your eyes. I could go on and on about the way she smelled. And her appearance! People passing her on the street would just stare at her, or couldn’t even bring themselves to look at her, or just shake their heads wondering how such a human being was sharing the same space with them at this exact moment in time. She would not interact with a single person at the office, but for some reason, she would talk to me. So one day she comes over to me and says, “You know what I saw the other day when I was walking around Times Square? I saw this guy get down on the ground, right there in the middle of the crowded sidewalk. Right down on the ground! And he starts praying. I think he was some kind of a Muslim. Right it the middle of everybody! And I watched him do this and I just got so angry. I couldn’t believe that he would do this after everything that New York has been through. I just wanted to wrap my hands around his neck and strangle him to death!”


Some people he said are so far off base, they don’t even know where they are.