I was in criminal court yesterday, waiting for a hearing to start. (I suppose I should clarify here that this was work-related and not, thankfully, personal….) One of the lawyers who’d come to observe at the hearing was waiting with the rest of the press for the court administrators to open the door. It was going to be a long wait—this is LA and a lot of our trials and hearings seem to involve Badly Behaving Celebrities, and that was the case this afternoon. The lawyer had spent considerable time of her own waiting in courtroom corridors, but today was different: she was recovering from a broken leg, and although the cast had been removed, she was still on crutches and her almost-unbroken leg was still weak. Which didn’t seem to faze the two dozen or so people sprawled on benches around us. Were they frail 90 year-olds with walkers? Hugely pregnant women? Other people with broken legs? No, no and no. They were strapping young men and buxom young women checking e-mail on their blackberries, security personnel. First responders—in uniform. And a lot of healthy, fit-looking civilians. All perfectly happy to go about their seated business, even though a person with crutches was standing right in their midst. The lady in question was used to fending for herself, so she just leaned on her crutch and waited for the court doors to open. But sometime before they did, a middle-aged reporter looked up, noticed her and offered her his seat. Which she took gratefully. So chivalry isn’t dead, but from what I saw yesterday afternoon, it’s maybe in intensive care. So let’s give it a shot in the arm: If you’re sitting and anyone demonstrably older than you, less fit than you or more burdened than you is standing, please offer her—or him—a seat. That would include: People on crutches, with walkers or canes. Sight-impaired people. Elderly folks (they don’t have to be Miss Jane Pittman’s age; if they’re the age of a parent, aunt or older cousin, get up!) Pregnant women and people with small children People lugging bulky items or heavy packages. You’d be surprised to does and doesn’t do this. On the bus, subway, in crowded waiting rooms, men in expensive-looking suits often look the other way—while young men that some people regularly cross the street to avoid instantly rise, gesture to their newly-vacated seat and offer it up. It doesn’t mean both of them weren’t raised right—but it does mean only one of them listened when that particular piece of home training was being handed down. Karen Grigsby Bates is a LA-based correspondent for NPR News and co-author, with Karen Elyse Hudson, of The New Basic Black: Home Training For Modern Times (Doubleday).
is a Los Angeles-based correspondent for NPR News and co-author, with Karen Elyse Hudson, of The New Basic Black: Home Training For Modern Times (Doubleday).