She Will Sing Loud, She Will Sing Proud: Does that Make Her Craaaaazy?

I’m on my way to work the other day and I start to hear a thumping from my right, near the door. I steal a glance at the woman standing in the doorway with her back to me, thinking she’s bumping the partition next to my seat. A second look confirms it: Nope, not her.

After a few more pages, the thumping is still going on. I lean forward a little and see a person’s foot tapping in rhythm. Hmm. They must be tapping really hard to be making that much noise. I try it with my own foot (of considerable size) and can’t come close to duplicating the sound.

Once the woman standing in the doorway leaves, I finally discover what it is: A woman sitting on the other side of the doorway is using her hand to pound a beat on the glass partition. Annoying, yes, but bearable. I go back to reading.

And then the singing starts.

“The Lord is RISEN! The Loooord is riiiisen!” [guttural, unintelligible mumbling] “He is RISEN! The Looooord is riiiiiiiiseeeeeen!”

Lady, I believe He’s risen, too, but singing on a Metro train at 8:45 in the morning may not be the best way to spread the Good News. In fact, it’s probably the worst possible thing you can do, because you look and sound like a crazy person. People like you give people like me a bad name.

Singing aloud on the subway is, unfortunately, not as rare an event as you may think; it’s just rare for someone to be doing so and not seem like a loon.

This woman is not an exception.

As I walk past toward the doors I sneak a glance at her and realize she isn’t singing along to an iPod, as is the norm. Instead, she’s going a cappella and caterwauling into a cell phone, all the while continuing to maintain a steady beat on the partition. I hope the person on the other end of that line is enjoying this more than those of us lucky enough to be observing live and in person.

My stop’s up next, praise the Lord.