mta Seeing the horrible news today about suicide bombers killing so many people and wreaking so much havoc in the Moscow subway system makes me feel very vulnerable once again riding the New York City transit system. There are so many entry points, and only so much the police can do to secure them.

It's common to see cops on duty checking the occasional backpack, some with the help of bomb-sniffing dogs, at the busiest stations. And I am still taken aback at the sight now and then of a member of the National Guard, in full combat gear, brandishing rifles at a subway entrance that almost look like toys. Still, you can't help but conclude that it's mostly for show.

Yes, there are cameras everywhere, but that's more for after the fact, isn't it? Just who is watching, anyway, and how might they pick out an individual threat before it's too late?

I don't really give this risk much thought as I take my daily commute to work, but when something like the attack from Moscow occurs, it does give me a chill.

At this point in the world today, I just have to trust that the risk managers of the New York Police Department have this situation under control as best they can, and take it from there. We are living in scary times, indeed.

But I will not live in a cave. I'll leave that pitiful existence to Bin Laden and his sorry crew.

Will anyone change their transit habits because of the Russian bombings today? I doubt it. I know I sure won't. The subways are as much a part of my everyday life as eating and breathing. I could not live in New York without riding the trains.

Indeed, I even enjoy my commute. I am lucky enough to get a seat since I am early on in my line. That 45-minute ride each way is where I do most of my book reading. I like to tell people I got my Masters degree and PhD from MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) University–finishing, on average, about 15 books per year, or about 450 volumes of fiction, history, political science, comparative religion, biography and baseball over the past 30 years.

I just hope what happened in Moscow never happens in the United States in general, and New York in particular. We are all vulnerable, but we are all in this together–Democrat and Republican, rich and poor. This is a very sobering event.

This also hits me hard on a personal level because I live in a primarily Russian neighborhood in Southern Brooklyn. I hear Russian on the street spoken more often than English on most days. Nearby Brighton Beach is called Little Odessa. So this event hits home in a very visceral way.

My condolences to the poor people in Moscow who lost family, friends and colleagues in today's bombings. May they never have to go through this ordeal again.

Special Reports /

Moscow Bombing Leaves Me On Edge

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