'Could Have Been Me': Last-Minute Choices Haunt Commuters
Call it a twist of fate. On Tuesday, Bruce Cohen, a Manhattan real estate lawyer, decided to do a favor for a friend and wasn't in his usual seat on the 5:44 p.m. Metro-North train out of Grand Central to his home in Mount Kisco. Conversely, Chris Gross was on the 5:44 p.m. that day instead of his usual train. He'd stopped to buy sneakers after work and missed the previous train. Gross ended up with a seat in the first car. The random nature of tragedy affects everyone, says Harris Stratyner, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, whether as victims or those — like Cohen — who manage to avoid a catastrophe for reasons they just don't understand.
- Dr. Harris Stratyner, Associate Clinical Professor, Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai