People amuse me.. no they surprise me!

People always surprise and amuse me. I was reading the 7 habits of higly effective people. Stephen Covey gives a very humane incident that occurred while he was on train . A co passenger seemed unaware of his children’s boisterous and unruly behavior. The other passengers were shooting dirty looks at him and were exclaiming at his nonchalant attitude. This went on till the author drew his attention to his kids. The man apologized and went on to explain that his wife had just passed away and he was just not sure what to do with the kids. At once, the same people who were getting annoyed by the behavior of the kids now sympathized with the man.

The other day, I was traveling back home on the train. Being a peak hour, it was late and the train was crowded. We barely found places to sit. A couple of minutes after we started off , the train conductor came by to make sure everyone had place to sit and no one was standing unless absolutely necessary.

She found a woman prostrate, occupying two seats. She said “Ma’m, we need you to sit up”. The woman who was bundled in an old parka coat mumbled, “I’m not feeling too good. I am cold”. We were all watching the proceedings and were very surprised with the tone taken by the conductor. All our sympathies went to this poor lady who just didn’t seem too well. The train conductor refused to let go. In a polite but distant voice she said, “Ok ma’m I shall call the ambulance. They will meet us at the next station”. When we arrived at the next station, the ambulance was not there. We didn’t mind waiting as it was only humane to understand and sympathize with the sick woman. The ambulance got there a good 5 minutes after the train. The paramedics came in to check on the woman. That was the last the woman was going to get any sympathy. As she moved out, she left behind her a terrible stink that was most definitely due to at least 6 or more hours of constant alcohol consumption. She could barely stand straight let alone walk out. As soon as she left, the compartment was in an uproar. Everyone suddenly found the 5 min they lost waiting at the station too valuable. The shows they were going to miss, the start of the game that was going on that night etc.

No wonder people amuse me and surprise me. I’m not sure in which order though