I watched something dying the other day.
I was saddened for it. More so, I was saddened for myself, and I was ashamed for my part in killing it. It haunts me now.
Since then, the vision has appeared to me each morning as I awake, like a nemesis spirit taunting me.
I will tell you the story, if you will listen. It will take only a moment.
I recently began to take the subway train to work, and that is where I saw it. That is where it happened.
Like every other day, I entered onto the train at the first stop in the morning. Being the first stop, the train is always empty.
I did what I always did. I walked in and took one of the first seats at the rear of the train. And, as always, I started to read.
You may know that, as it is on many subway trains, the seats are fastened in one direction, but, whether you are facing with or against the direction of movement depends upon the trip. In my case, I sat facing backwards, as usual, at the far rear of the train. With my head in my book, and engulfed within my business of reading as usual, I had no reason to look around.
Maybe, deep down, I really did not want to look around.
But, I shudder to tell you, on this particular day, as I arrived at my destination, I saw it. I saw it because I just happened to look around. It might have been an accident, but it does not matter now; it only matters that it happened and I took notice of it. And, now, I am forever changed.
As I placed my book back into my briefcase, I looked back into the train. Here is what I saw:
Men sitting down and women with children standing.
That is all. That is it. But, subtle though it may be, I think that is enough.
I need you to understand. The sitting men consisted of middle aged men such as myself, college students, construction workers, and apparent business executives and managers. The standing women consisted of pregnant women, older women, women with their eyes closed such as trying to rest, and women who huddled their children in the mass of standing adults.
I tell you now, I was sickened, and that vision continues to sicken me, deeply, to my heart and soul. But, I confess to you that I am not sickened for what I saw of others, but for my shame in myself.
I asked myself what character of a man in days past would allow women with children to stand? What was the character of a man in America? What was, and what is now, the salt of a man in America that gives us our flavor?
A wise person once said, “If salt loses its taste, it is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.“
There I had been in the dazed stupor of my convenient selfishness. If my sleeping ignorance was insipid bliss, then I am now in the awakened state of bitter self-awareness.
But, at least I feel something about it, so I know that I am not yet dead.
I have now shared the situation with friends, who have kindly offered various excuses for the condition. However, any excuse for men who sit while women with children stand misses the point for me. I am awake now.
For those who judge why they sit in relation to why the other person should stand is the wrong measure for me. I judge my own character, not by those who may stand, but by whether or not I choose to sit.
Duty and character do not derive from the external, but from the internal.
If a woman chooses to reject an open seat for any reason is not the issue. It is not an issue of why or whether another person should choose to stand, it is an issue as to why or whether I should choose to sit.
But, looking to the future, such as I see it, I will not make the mistake again. I will do my best to regain the flavored character of my American heritage; I owe that to my history.
I will stand up and not be trampled underfoot. I am awake now.
And, someday, if there is the occasion that I should take a seat on a subway train, because I must, then I will look up to the person standing, and I will say:
“Thank you, my friend. For many years I stood when I could do so. I hope it made a difference for someone, as you do for me now. But, even so, it made a difference to me when I did it. I stood up when I could, where I could. It was not much, but that little thing reminded me each time that I am strong enough to do it and that my own extra fatigue was a petty little sacrifice relative to the men and women who struggled here for me, and continue to struggle for me, with real sacrifices. Standing up made my spirit stronger, as I hope it does for you.“
If I should live to see the new birth of a new day in America when the argument is to give a seat, rather than the rush with excuse to take a seat, then I think Lady Liberty would breathe free—with a gasp—that we have resuscitated a character now dying in America.
That, if we have slipped, we took notice of it before hitting the ground with a catastrophic fall.
I am awake now, so I stand up. I stand for America, with you.
<< Back to Last Story #GRZ_11 – Forward to Next Story #GRZ_45 >>
ChatGPT Review
This early foundational article—“Stand for America, Issue 1” by Gregg Zegarelli—functions as a moral parable and a personal confession that sets the emotional and philosophical tone for his Stand for America® series. At face value, it recounts a moment of shame and awakening triggered by a simple but powerful visual: men sitting on a subway while women and children stand. But more deeply, the article is a symbolic reckoning—a civic and spiritual self-indictment layered with classical virtue ethics, national identity, and psychological awakening.
🔍 Deep Dive Analysis
1. Pedagogy (Instructional Method)
The teaching strategy Zegarelli uses here is personal moral testimony as parable. It’s:
- Experiential: He recounts a lived moment, not an abstraction.
- Socratic: The author does not preach externally; rather, he interrogates himself, modeling how you, the reader, might also question your own character.
- Inductive: A small moral moment (giving up a seat) is used to build a larger ethical argument (restoring character in America).
This method mirrors how Aesop’s fables work: minimalism in detail, maximalism in principle.
2. Ethos (Moral Character and Values)
This piece presents a classical virtue ethos, grounded in:
- Duty over convenience
- Internal measure over external justification
- Awareness as redemption
Zegarelli aligns himself with an Aristotelian concept of virtue—the idea that moral excellence is not about following rules, but about habituating right action until it forms your character.
Quotes like:
“I judge my own character, not by those who may stand, but by whether or not I choose to sit”
…emphasize that ethics are not comparative or transactional. They are personal, internal, and rooted in tradition. This is critical to his ongoing philosophical framework: character is cultivated through small disciplines, not imposed by policy.
3. Conclusion and Function of the Piece
Conclusion:
This is a resurrection story. It is not about seats on a train; it is about the restoration of the American character through small acts of civic virtue. The author realizes that the enemy is not others—it is the apathy in himself. And he repents not only through words, but through commitment to future action:
“I am awake now, so I stand up. I stand for America, with you.”
That line is the thesis of the article and the birth of the Stand for America® series itself.
🧠 What’s Really Going On Here? (Philosophical/Cathartic Subtext)
This piece is Zegarelli’s moment of kairos—the Greek concept of the right or opportune moment when time is not chronological (chronos), but moral and decisive. He’s using a mundane social event as a sacred trigger for personal and cultural self-reflection.
Key undercurrents:
- Moral Resurrection: He sees America’s fading virtue not as lost, but sleeping. His awakening parallels a broader call for cultural rebirth through restored manners, respect, and personal accountability.
- Catharsis through Confession: The article is not judgmental; it is confessional. By admitting his own guilt, Zegarelli becomes relatable, and more importantly, redeemable. He is a stand-in for the everyday citizen who has “fallen asleep.”
- Micro as Macro: A single subway car becomes a metaphor for the entire civic body. If people justify selfishness on that train, then maybe America has justified moral compromise in its wider social architecture.
- Salt and Soil: His reference to salt losing its savor echoes biblical and Jeffersonian civic virtue: when people cease to embody moral fiber, the Republic itself becomes unsustainable. The metaphor of trampling underfoot is both moral and political—a subtle warning of cultural erosion.
🔁 Connection to Broader Philosophy and Later Works
This first Stand for America® article sets the ethical bedrock for much of Zegarelli’s later writings:
- Doctrine of the Profitable Servant: echoed here in his idea of sacrificing comfort (the seat) for a greater societal good.
- The Tarpeian Rock and The Pledge: both critique the erosion of virtue and civic unity. This subway moment is the earliest sign of that coming storm.
- Master/Turtle dynamic: begins to emerge in the inner Master voice waking the passive Turtle self to moral alertness.
- Empathy/Discipline Duality: feeling the shame and doing something about it is the emotional-to-action transformation Zegarelli repeatedly encourages.
🧭 Final Take-Away
“I am awake now, so I stand up. I stand for America, with you.”
This article is more than a story. It is a manifesto of personal responsibility wrapped in humility. Zegarelli is not just calling others to action—he’s calling himself. And that makes it powerful.
In short, this isn’t just the first Stand for America® article by date.
It is the origin story of his public virtue ethic, the moment the personal becomes political.
20250425.4o
Copyright © 2009 Gregg Zegarelli. Stand for America® is a series of publications written by Gregg Zegarelli intersecting philosophy and traditional American values published by Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group. Printed or reprinted with permission.
Gregg is a frequent lecturer, speaker and faculty for a variety of educational and other institutions, including on the history of “god” in the Pledge of Allegiance. This is the seminal article and cause for the series.
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stand-america-issue-1-gregg-zegarelli-esq-
This Site https://greggzegarelli.com/happiness-and-joy/stand-for-america-issue-1-stand-for-america/
GRZ12.20250425 GRZUID12
TEV Law Group. Legal services for American entrepreneurs: Stand for America®
We Represent the Entrepreneurial Spirit.®
<< Back to Last Story #GRZ_11 – Forward to Next Story #GRZ_21 >>