Summers said the photo, which he took on the F train after leaving dim sum brunch, simply captures an everyday moment in his city and country. It’s worth noting that he didn’t ask the riders’ permission to take or post the image, as he said that would have “felt forced and staged.”

“The moment is extraordinary in its ordinariness: common courtesy as an afterthought is the NYC and the America I was raised to believe in,” Summers told The Huffington Post in an email. “Given the age of divisiveness we live in, it seems people are looking at this photo as a reason to put issues like race, religion, and sex aside to focus on more important issues relevant to peaceful coexistence.”

Isn't it amazing that we are all made in God's image, and yet there is so much diversity among his people?
-Desmond Tutu