Point of the Rat Race

Standing at the top of the stairs in Grand Central station this morning, I had a bird's eye view of the traffic patterns New Yorkers make when they charge through open space. It's so easy to dismiss these behaviors as animalistic: "it's a rat race".
But what truly is the reason we hurry?

The rat race isn't about getting ahead. It's about autonomy.
In New York, you have a hundred decisions a day to make in the blink of an eye. Whoever blinks first, looses. If you don't take a seat on the train, you can bet the guy next to you will. When you wait to throw your hand up for a cab, the woman across the street is already stepping into it. Here in Manhattan, more than any place on earth, if you don't make a decision, one will be made for you. 8 million people are competing for jobs, cash, food, apartments and, above all else, a sense of self which is constantly subject to alienation. At the end of the day, no one really cares who got home first or who made the most money. All we really care about in New York is who made it home with a little bit of dignity.