Sunday, March 16, 2008

Am I evil?

23+ hours on a full plane. Stuck in a middle seat. Annoyingly loved-up couple sitting infront of me. Gah, it's amazing. I don't know these people, yet the sickening sight of them making out on their reclined seats just inches away from me - makes me hate them so much.

That's not what makes me evil though :P

I'm stuck next to a disabled man. One arm is a stump, the other is in a permanently bent position. He's got the window seat. Throughout the flight, I have to help him out. Butter his bread and break it up. Buckle and unbuckle his seatbelt. Feed him his tea. Pull his camera out of his front pocket and take photos for him. Put his headphones on for him. Adjust his channels. I was worried he was going to ask me to help him go to the toilet! I would've drawn the line there.

I'd do these things for someone I love, I'd do it for a friend. Doing these things for a random stranger who's a grown man?!?
It's dang awkward. Not to mention fcking WEIRD. I felt so uncomfortable helping him. I felt guilty asking for a different seat before reboarding the plane in Singapore. I felt guilty for thinking, "fck, I can't believe I have to do this for the entire trip".

I tried putting myself in his shoes, and thinking how bad it must be to be so dependent on a stranger to do the simplest things in life. It must be a blow to his pride to have to ask for help all the time.

Yet, I still wished it wasn't me sitting next to him :(

4 comments:

Kev said...

You're only 2/5th evil from that, not fully evil. :)

I have to give cred to guy for making that kind of trip himself. As you say, asking for a stranger's help is tough.

Do you miss the Sydney weather?

reenie said...

Less than half, but more than a third evil? That's still a lot of evil :(

There's not much of the Sydney weather to miss. I've never seen so much RAIN in Sydney in my life...

Beckster said...

Maybe I'm more evil than you reenie, but the first thought I had was - what if the person stuck in the middle seat was someone who wasn't willing or wasn't able to help him, then what would he do?

It's a big obligation to put on an absolute stranger for twenty plus hours. I'm not sure of the alternative though - should it have been the responsibility of the airline (similar to them taking care of kids who travel alone) or the man himself to make sure he can cope?

I'm not unsympathetic, but I do believe that helping others should be a choice you make because you believe in the cause, not an obligation thrust onto you without your prior consent because of the seat you chose. You're not evil.

reenie said...

thought at the very least, the airline (bl00dy BRITISH AIRWAYS!) should have put the man in an aisle seat or upgraded him so that he could be better looked after.

Maybe you're only 3/5ths evil Bec ;)