Wall Street Journal Shocked That Crazy Guy on Subway Is Not Poor
The Wall Street Journal has discovered a weirdo... riding the New York subway! Except this weirdo is weird in a different way. He's not a weird poor person begging for change. He just wants to make friends!
Meet Solomon Lederer, a 29-year-old Morgan Stanley software developer who for the past month has been annoying commuters with a project to bring subway riders together. When he starts his speech on the F train, you might think he's a bum looking for a handout, but the Wall Street Journal urges readers to give him a listen, because he's not poor.
His speech to a crowded B-train car could almost be mistaken for the interruptions already familiar to transit riders. "I just want to say something for like 30 seconds," he begins, in the style of panhandlers, proselytizers and the sellers of dubiously charitable candy bars. But Lederer's attire - ubiquitous corporate casual, with a flyer-laden satchel he refers to as his "purse" - signals that the 29-year-old Morgan Stanley software developer might be after something different.
What does rich Solomon Lederer want, if not to leech off of society like your normal subway crazy poor? He has a weird project where he hands out flyers to subway riders, offering to exchange ideas and advice with them. (He even has a blog about it.) So, he's not a crazy guy begging for money. He's a crazy guy begging for attention. And covering him may be the first charitable thing The Wall Street Journal has done, ever. [WSJ]