Must Have Been the Good Weather

If you don't know my feelings on the public transit commuters in Massachusetts, let's just say I'm not friends with them. The pushing, the shoving, the me-first attitude and the blatant disregard for the fact that other people are riding with you and that you are not in a bubble, drive me bonkers. But yesterday, I witnessed two things that my first thoughts were (in this order): 1) wow, that was really nice; and 2) I have to make a blog post out of this.

Yesterday afternoon I was on my way to North Station which required a longer trip on the T than I usually take. I'm fortunate to usually have a one stop ride, but this was 5 stops and then changing trains for another 3 stops--not my favorite kind of thing. But it was a pretty day, cool with some wind, but generally sunny. And after the month of March being monsoon season around here, even a little bit of sun was putting everyone in a good mood.

At one of the stops after I got on, a women wearing hospital scrubs got on. Nothing unusual, but she actually looked more like she was a patient, possibly chemo, and since the train was rather full, there were no seats (I was standing in the doorway area). And then something happened that has happened so infrequently, I could probably count the number of times I've seen it in 3 years on one hand. A gentleman in his late 30s/early 40s got up and offered his seat to this woman. I was so shocked I wanted to lean over and say, "You're a good man." And not as a means of being offensive to the people who didn't offer, but more to acknowledge that he did the right thing.

A few stops later, a much older woman (maybe 80s) got on the train with bag and her cane and was standing next to me (at this point, I'd moved further into the middle of the train, still standing). Immediately a young woman (20s probably) said to the older woman, "Please take my seat" and got up. The older woman protested and said no, but the younger woman stood her ground and said, "No, I insist" and moved away from the seat. The older woman sat down and was very thankful.

I was floored. Two random acts of kindness in one train ride!! That's amazing. And it made me feel a little better about my fellow commuters. Don't get me wrong, we're still not friends. But next time I might pause before I yell at someone for pushing me.

Who am I kidding? Of course I'm still going to yell at them.