No Good Deed ...

'No Good Deed Goes Unpunished' is one of the better songs in the second act of 'Wicked'. Basically, Elpheba gets fed up with trying to help people only for that help to go wrong in some way.

This morning I gave up my seat on the Tube to a pregnant woman. I was clearly the oldest person in that part of the carriage. The woman wasn't heavily pregnant, maybe 5-6 months, but still clearly had a bun in the oven. No-one moved. So I did. The young woman gave me a look almost as if to say, 'why did it take you so long?' and sat down. No smile, no word of thanks. She took my seat.

Why did I do that? Why didn't others? Because of my slipped disc, then I often need a seat since every little jerk of the carriage can be agony but I always try to avoid sitting in the 'disabled' seat beside the carriage doors since there's probably someone who needs it more than me. But, more often than not. it's filled by a young person who bounds into the carriage as the doors shut, swing round the rail and sit down without thinking. I suspect they don't *need* that seat. It's not just young people, older people often take the 'disabled' seat as well whether they need it or not.

Earlier as I was getting on the Tube someone else just moved in front of me and got on. I was standing right in front of the door where the train stopped so there was no question about who should step on first. But the lad in the suit moved in front of me and got on. He said 'sorry' as he did so, but he did it. Pushed in front to get into an empty carriage. An *empty* carriage with space for everyone. But he had to get on first.

I suppose it's the unthinking nature of this behaviour that bugs me. What's happened to personal space? What's happened to people? What's happened to basic humanity and common feeling? What's happened to thinking that someone else might actually exist?