Will the real good samaritan please stand up!

So, who here loves the rain? Is there anyone? Come now, there must be some among you who can appreciate what others would call horrid weather. Well, I for one love a good downpour. It is those times when you can see human generosity hardest at work. Take, for example, the date of January 22nd, 2007. Ah, I remember it as if it were yesterday...

It was the evening's threshold and I had only begun my journey home. My bus was nowhere near arrival and already my jacket was soaked, but I didn't mind. Soon enough it had come and I had taken my seat--at the back of the bus, no less--in eager anticipation of the adventurous ride home which awaited me; however, as any fellow SFU student will attest, it is seldom an enjoyable experience riding the express in abysmal weathers. Even within the confines of the coveted rear section I found myself being invaded by countless other bodies, damp and groaning from the pains which the tempest had wrought on them. It was anything but pleasant. It was also anything but sterile, but I digress...

Upon our arrival to the Production Way Skytrain Station all was quiet at the platforms. So, not wishing to disturb our fellow classmates with useless pushing and prodding, we all disembarked in a most orderly and civilized fashion; that is, of course, after the initial pushing and prodding which occurred while everyone collectively vied to be first off the bus, and subsequently first to set foot on the empty platforms.

Goodness, what an honour that one young woman had, being the first to realize she'd have to wait for her train. Oh, and the further honor of being the first person to be mobbed by a horde of exiting Skytrain passengers.

"Crazy like a fox," indeed.

Now, it is at this point, once my comrades and I have been evolutionarily demoted to the rank of mere sardines, when I begin to see this "human generosity" at work. Normally, when 50 bodies are compressed into a space no larger than your typical can of ravioli, you would not expect many an empty seat, right? Well, if you answered yes, I would have to declare you overwhelmingly wrong. The reality was quite the opposite, actually.

It was amazing. Grown men and women, equally thrashed by the storm, refused to sit down. Empty seats everywhere and these brave, courteous, obstinate people refused to take one, surely for fear that one of their elders may board and find no place to rest. Many a "normal" person would condemn this act, arguing that countless more people could be allowed on board, or at least the de-sardineification of us all. Well, woe to you, cranky John and Jane Doe; woe to you, leg-weary traveller, for these people will never stop standing up for what they believe in. They will never allow the heady weight of "common sense" to bring them down, and God darn it, isn't that how it should be? Gaze, my friends. Look on in reverence as these people continue to defy logic day after day. It is these people which are making a brighter tomorrow for all of us, even if they have to stand during the rain to do it. Kudos to you, human generosity. If all this is wrong, then I don't want to be right.