Random act of Responsibility

I was on the subway the evening of Saturday, and I witnessed something great. I was riding home from a day of volunteering and a simple dinner at the Inn at Marina Bay.

A young man got on the train. He attracted my notice because he looked like someone I was in love with in the past. Well, it would be more correct to say had a crush on that I never voiced. He had the same blond hair(Granted, his hair was dyed blond-this random passenger that is) , glasses and brown eyes and easy like Sunday morning manner.

He was listening to his ipod, minding his own business when a older Chinese man got on the train with a newspaper and sat next to him. The Chinese man went on reading the paper for a few stops until he did one of the few things that get my goat. He took a section of the paper that he had no use for and dropped it on the floor.

I hate littering. One may complain that our subway is crummy anyway. Trash is the order of the day. The barrels are not always obvious and well, since 9/11, not always present. Still as adults we know that litter goes into the litter bin or trash can.

My guy with the blond hair tapped the man lightly on the shoulder. He asked him what he was doing. The man smiled at him and went back to reading his newspaper. My guy tapped him again in the same manner. When the man made eye contact with him, he asked him to pick up the paper he had put on the floor. He did not yell, or curse. He just asked him to pick up the paper he put on the floor. When the man tried to ignore him a second time, he said, "Come on man, you know that's wrong. That's littering."

This time the man did not ignore him and he picked up the paper. When he got off the train, he took the paper with him.

I caught my guy's and told him that I saw what happened and that I thought he was cool. He smiled sheepishly.

Unfortunately they do not give out rewards for people that encourage responsible behaviour in their fellow riders.