In other news, my morning commute took an hour today. One culprit was a little friendly morning road work on a main thoroughfare, and confused drivers with limited mental capabilities for understanding the concept of merging.
But in a freakier twist of events, a standing passenger fainted in the bus aisle and we spent fifteen minutes awaiting medical attention. She regained consciousness quickly and, besides being a little disoriented and woozy, seemed like she'd be fine. What struck me about the whole event was how quickly and automatically the passengers immediately surrounding her snapped to action.
One girl noticed the glazed look in her eyes and started to support her before she was even in full faint. Another girl bore the body weight from the other side, while a guy moved her feet from under her to get her into a seated position on the floor. As she started coming to, a guy was already on the phone with 911 and an unopened bottle of water was summoned forth. As the minutes passed waiting for the medics, she was offered a seat, some granola, and a general outpouring of concern.
Although 90% of the passengers quickly removed themselves from the bus as soon as they realized we were stopping, there was a core who was more concerned about the well-being of a human being that getting to work by 9:00. The girl sitting behind me even started her conference call from her cell phone on the bus. And I bet no one on the other end had scathing retorts when she explained why.
I felt reassured about humanity this morning. About my generation. A small group of 20-somethings sprang to immediate action. There was no by-stander effect. And there was genuine compassion. Kudos to all of those class-act individuals. I'm proud to have shared a morning commute with you.
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