Get what you need and move on

       Lately I've been wondering if alot of people's worlds would implode if for once, I acted like them and said no to everything and anything they asked me to do, and acted with indifference, acting as if there was no such thing as a telephone or computer, or other form of communication.

Unless I needed something. You know- like everyone else.

Question of the day

This morning when I  got on the train it was already packed. Since my job is  waaaaaay  on the other side of town, about 7 stops from mine the  crowd begins to thin out and by the time I get to work there might be about 2 other people on the train. 

Anyway, like I said, the train was packed. Because I might see maybe 5 black people in a typical week in Portland, I'm always glad to see a black person besides myself. When the door of the train opened it was standing room only, as expected.  The first person  I saw was this black boy, about maybe 6, sitting down eating a sandwich,  next to a white male in suit. He looked to be maybe in his  30s.  The boy's  father, a tall black man in what looks like a mechanic's uniform, is standing next to him. At the next stop, more people entered the train. There was an older  asian  woman who looked to be in her late 60s , walking in. She was hunched over. She stood in front of the suited white male who was closest to the door.  Assuming he would do the right thing, I watched and was surprised but what he did, or I should say, by what he didn't do;  he looked at her and then he looked away and then he began to read his newspaper. No, he didn't get up. For a minute I forgot the boy was sitting there until less than a minute later he stood up immediately, stood next to his father and  held his hand, and offered his seat to the lady. My guess is that he was waiting for the suited man next to him to do the right thing. I loved how the boy knew what to do without his father having to ask him to get up. 

The woman said - "No, please young man,sit back down. I just have 3 stops."

The boy said -  "I don't mind standing. Please have my seat. Please."

The woman smiled at him and then at  his father. She said -"It's obvious you're raising him well."

The father smiled at her- "Thank you mam."

It had me thinking, what is the most important thing to teach a child? 

My answer:  I taught my son alot of lessons, but if I had to guess what was the most important, I would say, it's to treat people as he'd like to be treated. And, to respect the elderly. And to always be a gentlemen. And to treat women the way he would  want someone to treat his mom. He succeeded in every way. 

What is your answer?

On a personal note - The Perils of Indifference

Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten.
--Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate, Elie Wiesel

I was reading a speech Elie Wiesel had given to the East Room of the White House on April 12, 1999, as part of the Millennium Lecture series, hosted by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I loved the entire speech, but this passage touched me personally.