the kind of person I want you to be

One of my favorite things about riding the subway is people watching.
You are never at a lack for entertainment, even if your ride is fairly short.

I saw a family on the subway not long ago. A mom, a dad, and two boys in their mid-teens.
The maps and beads of sweat gave them away... definitely tourists in this big ole town.
The subway car was packed forcing the family to find fast footing and hold on tight.
At the next stop, the car unloaded opening up a couple seats.
The dad and the older boy grabbed the seats, leaving the mom and the other brother standing.
The next stop came and a seat by the dad opened. The other boy took it.
And there she stood, clutching the rail above her head, above her husband and her sons.

Please don't mistake me, rigobaby.
I am not saying that women are weak and frail and unable to stand, literally and figuratively, on their own two feet.
But please hear this, I want you to be the kind of person who offers their seat willingly to the elderly, to the great with child, to the teenager with a cast on his leg.
I want you to offer a hand to the lady with one too many grocery sacks and to hold the door open for the people beside you, even if you arrived at the same time and even it's raining.
That's the kind of person I want you to be.

I watched those boys, headphones on, oblivious to their mother standing before them.
I willed them to stand up and say, Here, Mama, take this seat.
My stop came before theirs.
I hope she got my seat.