Jason English
Daniel Berman Is Our Hero (and yesterday’s contest winner)
by Jason English - October 8, 2008 - 11:25 PM

We tacked a little contest onto yesterday’s quiz about public transportation nicknames. We asked for your best (or worst) public transportation story, and as a group, you did not disappoint. But the person who didn’t disappoint the most was Daniel Berman, who contributed this epic tale:

My subway story took place in New York City, on the F train. It was morning, I was heading to work in Midtown at HBO, I had my newspaper and container of OJ in tow. All I wanted to do was drink my drink, read my paper, and get to work.

As is somewhat common in the NYC subway system, a man came on the train at my second stop and started proclaiming “jesus as the one to turn towards.” I am not a christian, but regardless of what this man was peddling, it was a subway… it was morning and it was loud, annoying, distracting, and quite frankly rude.

All the passengers, myself included, rolled our eyes and sighed a collective “ugh”. right as this man started delivering his “sermon”.

I had surprised myself, I usually would have sat silently and resented this man internally for the rest of the day. But I thought, if I asked him politely perhaps he will stop his public proselytizing. A religious man, in theory, should be thoughtful of his fellow man. I asked the “loud gentleman” if he wouldn’t mind stopping or at the very least lower his voice. He got louder.

Before I knew it, I was on my feet standing right next to this man. I announced to the train, the whole of his captive audience, “Everyone, the new DAWN OF THE DEAD just came out and now, I will take it upon myself to read what this newspaper reviewer thought of the film.”

I started reading this review, the evangelical man got louder, screaming a passage from the Bible. I got louder screaming from The New York Post. I raised my volume. He raised his. It continued to both of us were pretty loud. He is screaming about Jesus from a psalm and I am screeeeaming about zombies from DAWN OF THE DEAD.

I finish reading my review all red faced and agitated. I sat down only to look up to see I was getting applauded.

I got a STANDING ovation from all the people on the train with me. Standing.

It’s a great way to start a day.

history-book.jpgDaniel wins a copy of The Mental Floss History of the World, which I hope he carries with him in the event of future subway preach-offs. I’ll be in touch about your prize.

And let me remind everyone, if you pre-order the book from Amazon before October 27th, we’ll throw in 6 FREE MONTHS of mental_floss magazine.

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Comments (21)

  1. Thank You Daniel Berman. Thank You.

    posted by Emily S S on 10-9-2008 at 12:35 am

  2. sweet zombie jesus that is excellent.

    posted by pc on 10-9-2008 at 1:26 am

  3. Thanks everyone. I am glad that you like my subway story.

    That “preacher” was such a jerk. I saw him a couple more times over the years and whenever he saw me he would switch to another car. I think of him anytime I read a movie review.

    daniel
    http://www.danieldannydan.com

    posted by Daniel Berman on 10-9-2008 at 3:32 am

  4. What a great story!

    This has got to be the most on-topic recaptcha I’ve ever seen (and it describes Daniel as well!): riders aid. Perfect!

    posted by Michigan Mom on 10-9-2008 at 5:26 am

  5. This is completely unrelated to Mr. Berman, who I applaud for his story, but I’ve noticed that while I’m on the mental_floss website, under the Personal of the Day, I’m greeted quite often by the smiling face of ladydisdain. By “quite often,” I mean 40-50% of the time, which is way more than one would expect of a random drawing.
    Is Mental_Floss trying to tell me something?

    ReCaptcha: bears Katrina
    Interesting, considering I’m a New Orleanian and lost my house and all my belongings in the flood 3 years ago…and still live here.

    posted by 8rustystaples on 10-9-2008 at 9:45 am

  6. Way to take it upon yourself to decide that since you are not a Christian, no one else should have the opportunity to be either.

    I agree that preaching on the subway may not be the way to do it, and even I get annoyed sometimes by over-the-top street preachers. However, to fill everyone’s heads with nonsense about zombies in an attempt to win a pissing contest with someone who simply believes himself to be helping folks, should not be applauded.

    posted by Heather Dawn on 10-9-2008 at 9:45 am

  7. Seems to me that the guy was annoying the people he was “trying to help” and became obnoxious when he was asked, politely, to stop. I think at that point his preaching became as nonsensical as the movie review, so really, he defeated his own message.

    posted by Popeye on 10-9-2008 at 10:02 am

  8. Perhaps Heather missed the part where Daniel wrote “I asked the “loud gentleman” if he wouldn’t mind stopping or at the very least lower his voice. He got louder.” I was raised with the notion that, no matter what, it’s impolite to “make a fuss.” But when someone else is being impolite – and loud – making a fuss may be the only option.

    posted by Lars Hoel on 10-9-2008 at 10:06 am

  9. Thank you Heather Dawn! You said it perfectly. I thought I was the only one that hated this story. True, the preacher should have stopped, but even if he refused, two wrongs don’t make a right, and who knows, he may have been mentally or psychologically disturbed and this Dawn of the Dead jerk, to me, comes off looking like the worst of the two.

    posted by Fran on 10-9-2008 at 10:29 am

  10. This story reminds me of when I was on a subway in NY trying to preach the Bible, and some guy got up and started screaming a movie review of Dawn of the Dead. I tried to preach louder to drown him out, but he kept getting louder too. Finally, he finished, and I think everyone was so glad he was done that they applauded. Man, there are nutcases everywhere.

    posted by Brian on 10-9-2008 at 10:58 am

  11. Heather Dawn and Fran,

    The proselytizer was being a public nuisance, being very annoying and then getting even more annoying when politely asked to tone it down. Daniel gauged the reactions of the other passengers, (correctly, as evidenced by the fact that they cheered when it was over), and realized that they were just as annoyed as he. So he got up and read his review. Was it a petty thing to do? You bet. But what the preacher dude was doing was in itself petty, and Daniel appropriately responded in kind (and humorously, to boot!). Of course you’re entitled to think it’s wrong, but it’s not really that big a deal, is it?

    It wouldn’t have been a big deal if he hadn’t spoken up either, and just let the guy prattle on. But this time he matched pettiness with pettiness, put a smile on some people’s faces, and probably gave them all a good story to tell. I’m sure preacher-man is still out there happily annoying captive audiences whenever he gets the chance, so no worries!

    posted by Michigan Mom on 10-9-2008 at 11:15 am

  12. I think this story is great. I can pretty much guarantee those concerned about it, that the “preacher” was NOT doing it to try and help people or teach people about his God. More than likely the man wasn’t even aware of what he was saying and was just doing it to irritate everyone. Riding public transportation every day you encounter mentally ill individuals constantly and compassion can carry you only so far some days. There comes a time where you just let loose with an equal amount of crazy. Nicely done.

    posted by nikki on 10-9-2008 at 11:28 am

  13. Great story! And ironically, both of you were kind of telling the same story.
    I mean Jesus came back from the dead too. :-)

    posted by Sheldon Siegel on 10-9-2008 at 11:56 am

  14. So, nikki, is the guy mentally ill because he was talking aloud on the subway, or because he was talking about Jesus? Just wondering, because if it’s the latter, I need to get myself checked out by a professional.

    Sheldon? Touche.

    posted by Heather Dawn on 10-9-2008 at 2:25 pm

  15. Loved this story–it cracked me up! I think it’s wonderful that some people have religion they are so passionate about, but I don’t understand the need to press their views on everyone else. The light is supposed to be shining from INSIDE.

    @ Sheldon Siegel–still giggling. :)

    recaptcha: Final Inc.
    hehe–sounds like a good name for a religious corporation…

    posted by Orange on 10-9-2008 at 2:28 pm

  16. Actually, Orange, the “light shining” is a reference to letting your life show your faith. We are actually instructed not to put our light (lamp) under a bowl, but to let it shine for all men to see (Matthew 5:15-16). We are also called to go into the world, making disciples of every nation (Matthew 28:19-20). The Bible commands us to share our faith with others.

    There are people who don’t want to hear it, but that doesn’t make it any less important for us to share.

    posted by Heather Dawn on 10-9-2008 at 3:21 pm

  17. Go to Saudi Arabia and “share” your stupid stories, then, Heather. Let New Yorkers just get to their jobs in peace.

    posted by Zack Woodson on 10-9-2008 at 4:36 pm

  18. I made the assumption, Heather Dawn, based on the idea that most sane people refrain from proselytizing at the top of their lungs on the subway. I never said that people must be crazy if they’re Christian nor did I attempt to denigrate the religion.

    On the flip side, I do have the right to feel frustrated by someone loudly proclaiming that I’m going to hell because I don’t harbor their beliefs. You have every right to speak for it, and I have every right to speak against it. Personally, I don’t think raving on the bus or subway is the most effective way of ingratiating yourself to potential converts. I’m not sure if you’ve ridden public transport over long periods of time in large cities, but when you use it to get to work every morning and you have to deal with situations like that constantly, it’s nerve fraying. And we, after all, are only human and therefore imperfect.

    posted by nikki on 10-9-2008 at 4:49 pm

  19. Well, in my experience, I’ve never encountered a “street preacher” who spoke about the Lord in peace and love. It has always been in hate screaming to people that they are sinners, that they’re fornicators, that they’re going to hell. Yes, they are probably mentally disturbed, but at least if you’re on the street you can walk past. On public transportation, you are a captive audience, to say the least. So, I salute Daniel. If you leave out the Jesus aspect, it bothers me when anyone makes a ruckus on the El.

    posted by Shasta on 10-9-2008 at 4:50 pm

  20. I had a subway preacher yelling on a crowded 2 train once while my parents were in town. He was describing hell, loudly for the whole train, basically into my mom’s ear. My mom is a religious person, but she couldn’t stand the violent yelling. My dad politely asked him to stop. The guy got louder. My dad asked him to at least move so my mom wouldn’t go deaf. The guy asked him why he hated Jesus and why he wanted to keep everyone else on the train from going to heaven. My dad eventually got the guy to move down a door, where the people ended up giving my dad the stink eye for sending them the obnoxious preacher.

    posted by pop pop on 10-10-2008 at 9:23 am

  21. I think Nikki said what I meant much better than I did. So, thanks to Nikki and apologies if my message was misconstrued.

    posted by Orange on 10-11-2008 at 9:40 am

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