A to H Have you ever given up your seat to: a) an elderly woman, b) an elderly man, c) a woman with an infant, d) a pregnant woman, e) a small child, f) an injured man or woman, g) a pretty woman, or h) a handsome man (this is New York City – it could happen)?
I can tell you truthfully that I see a lot of “a-h’s” standing, while healthy young men and women sit. I know. I’ve been guilty of it myself. Sometimes I bury my nose in my book and simply do not notice an “a-h” standing in front of me until it’s too late and my stop has arrived. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Usually, though, if I’m even half aware of what’s going on around me, I’ll stand for an “a-f” – leaving able-bodied pretty women and handsome men to fend for themselves. And every once in a while I do see someone stand up and let an “a-f” have his seat–but it’s a rare occurrence.
What does this say about us men? Is chivalry gone in NYC? Have we all become so cranky and self-absorbed that we can’t let someone who needs a seat have one? I’ll tell you, it’s a beautiful moment when it does happen.
Yesterday I saw it happen twice. I got on the E with my son and his grandmother, on our way to the Museum of Natural History when a tall young man in oversize black and white t-shirt, baggy black pants, black and white baseball cap, and thick silver necklace, listening to his iPod and taking up one and a half spaces with a wide-kneed seat, got up and offered my son and his grandmother his seat. He stood from Roosevelt to 7th Avenue, where we got off to transfer to the uptown B; we thanked him again as the doors closed behind us.
Then on the way home, my son and I sitting next to each other, his grandmother across from us, I watched a young man in a sport jacket and yarmulke stand for a young woman. She was by all accounts a “g” and he blushed as he stood. She stammered “thanks” as she sat. He looked away while she looked up at him. Then he snuck a peak down at her while she looked shyly away.
When her stop came, she thanked him again, staying just a moment longer than a casual leave-taking warranted. I think everyone in the car noticed it.
The meeting made me smile before I went back to counting, with my son, the number of people wearing iPods in our car.
Hey, it keeps him from thinking about how far underground we are, how fast we are traveling in a tunnel that is pitch black, and the queasy feeling in his stomach that may or may not turn into motion sickness.
Two seat-giver-uppers in one day. Life is good.
–Joe Lunievicz
Joe, how many ipods were there?
Seven, that we could count officially and three sets of non-iPod earphones with unidentified attachments. My count was double checked and certified by my son, who at five years of age, can be trusted.
does a bi-pod count as 1 or 2?
What’s a bi-pod? Can it be possible that someone listens to two different music/radio/podcasts at once? Is this some kind of freakish multi-tasking? Do tell. I’m curious and just back from a weekend of camping, listening to my neighbor blast songs from my youth into the wee hours of the night regardless of the needs of the rest of us for sleep.