» And the crowd goes wild

Or, if previous experiences with crowds are anything to go by, at the very least loses all common sense and intelligence, and becomes totally oblivious to their surroundings.

Yep, we have the Pope coming to visit.  Staying true to form, as with any time something memorable occurs, everyone’s running around like headless chickens.

Now, admittedly, the DC area tends to run around like headless chickens when more than 3 snowflakes fall, 5 raindrops fall, or some “professional” sportsdrone we’re supposed to have heard of shows up, but this time it’s the worst example of decapitated poultry behavior I’ve ever seen - even down to the “most powerful man in the world” (George W Bush, allegedly) playing chauffeur to the guy.

For people with disabilities, it’s going to be an interesting time.

In the Chinese sense.

The Metro region is going to see a huge influx of tourists and others - so going back to past experience, several things will occur.

1. Whole hordes of people with perfectly working legs will suddenly discover a phobia of escalators, and stream lemming-like into the very small elevators at every MetroRail station.
   In the process, they will assume their need to get to street or mezzanine level is far more important than the need of people in wheelchairs to do the same.
   The zombie-like stares such step-phobic people will aim towards the hapless wheelies prevented from getting on the elevators will terrify small children.
2. Service animals will wish they had, indeed, both their tails docked and that someone had invented steel-toed paw-boots.
3. Service animals will be petted more in the next week by total strangers than they have been in their entire lives by their handlers, their handler’s families, and their own mothers.
4. Blind people will get dirty looks aimed their way by oblivious people who seem incapable of noticing the cane swinging until it hits them in the kneecaps.  For some reason, such oblivious people feel safer doing so on the assumption a blind person won’t notice.
5. Deaf people will be envied by many for not having to listen to the noise of so many people who either assume the person stood next to them is deaf, or just have no volume control to begin with.

Thankfully, people with disabilities have the same opportunity to exact some measure of satisfaction as any other resident of the area does on this horde of tourists:  When they ask for directions, tell them they need to get off somewhere “better” to avoid the crowds.  For example, every local knows Shady Grove Metro station is far closer to Nationals Park than the Navy Yard station.

Actually, I feel sorry for the MetroRail Station Managers - they’re not allowed to give such “helpful” directions to hordes of clueless idiots wandering through.  For some obscure (and possibly perverse) reason, they’re required to be “professional” and actually help these people!

Ahh, the sacrifices they make!

Don’t get me wrong, I know a load of those descending on the area are filled with religious zeal, and quite probably are really nice people.

Most of the time.

But when there’s a huge crowd, people’s manners tend to go out the window, and it’s very hard to remember isolated instances of civilized behavior when surrounded by throngs of the ignorant and oblivious.

The Pope showing up is a “once in a lifetime” event for most people, and they’ll be damned (literally?) if they’re going to let anyone else get in the way of seeing it.

The true measure of a culture is how it behaves in times of stress or emotion, and whilst Ratzinger will never be even close to a John Paul II, the position he holds still carries some odd sense of awe in itself that has people beginning to stop thinking rationally.

This is actually a great time for someone like myself, who revels in “people watching”.  If there’s ever a chance to observe the “human condition”, this is one of them.

Thankfully, it also means we only have to put up with this whole circus for a few days, then we can get back to “normal”.

But for the interimn, if you’ll excuse me I need to see if I can find Ben Hur hubs and a very loud air-horn for The Tank

Tags: John Paul II, Papal Visit, Pope Benedict, Ratzinger