a simple yarn

Every now and again, in her quiet and subtle way, Isobel, our soft-spoken-knitter-friend, posts a bit of a rant on her blog. And so I take a page from her book…the rant bit, not the soft-spoken part….

Whatever happened to common courtesy? You’d think that by the very phrase, which includes the word common, that it would be a fairly regular occurrence. I’m thinking that it ought to be re-phrased uncommon courtesy.

I’m standing on the bus. Not sitting, mind you, as there are perhaps 500 other human bodies packed in here with me, masquerading as sardines in a really big tin can. Get the picture? The bus was crowded. I’m in the front section of the bus, staring into the faces of 4 passengers who are sitting there, staring back at me. Even with all of the bodies, it’s deadly quiet.

Onto the bus totters a little old lady. Perhaps 75 years old. And she stands a couple of people away from me, desperately clinging to the rails so that she doesn’t tumble into someone’s lap. I look at her. And then I look at the 2 men, perhaps 30 years of age, sitting there staring at her doing the little sea-legs-wobble as the bus starts rolling. Did I mention that her arm was in a cast?

So, what’s wrong with this picture?

Anyone with an ounce of common sense would see that the little-old-arm-in-a-cast-lady should in no way be standing there swinging from side to side to the bus movement like a drunken Tarzan. After a short bit, another lady sitting there, perhaps 50-ish, offered the elderly lady a seat. ‘Ah no,’ she said, ‘I’ve just got a couple of stops to go.’ Very self-deprecating, as I’ve noticed some Irish to be. And still sitting there, oblivious to the needs of the world, sat those two blokes. Geeesh. Did my best shooting-daggers-out-of-my-eyes imitation. But nothing.

Bus stops again. An even older lady gets on. Toddle, toddle. And there she stands. Any movement from the lads? Nope. Then the 50-ish lady got up and gave her seat to this OAP.

Note: Okay, that was the description bit, here’s the rant….

How hard would it have been for those guys to stand up and offer their seat to either of those two elderly ladies? It takes absolutely no effort. The rest of the crush of people would gladly have moved aside to allow the seat exchange to take place. Little respect. Even less compassion. Sigh.

I tell you, it made me want to open a door or do a small nicety for every elderly person I came in contact with that day.