Incident on the MRT

Thursday Edson had an incident on the MRT very similar to one a friend, model, and fellow blogger, Wayne had several years ago. (Check out the link to read So She Screamed for a lively account of his incident. It's well worth the read!)

Edson was stepping out of the train when people pushing and shoving pushed him and his foot fell between the car and the platform. He fell with his leg hanging down in the space above the rails.

Wayne had his ankle twisted badly when his leg also fell between the car and platform of a NY subway train.

That's pretty much where the similarities end.

The difference is in who helped out when the incidents occurred.

Fortunately for Wayne, two people came to his aid; one to ensure the train did not begin to move, and one to see if he was OK.

An excerpt from his account:

I looked up, and saw a woman in her early 40's, came running toward me. Behind her, a man was following her.

Then I felt a sharp pain on my left knee... I looked down, just to find that my entire left leg in the gap between the train and the platform. Upon instinct, I used both of my arms to pull my body back... Pulling my leg out of the gap...

"STOP STOP! STOP!!!" The man behind the woman yelled, as he banged his fist on the windows of the train.

Just as I got my left leg out of the gap, I felt the grip of the woman on my right shoulder.

She too, was pulling me.

I turned to her...."Thank you... Thank you very much..."

The Lady: "Are you okay?"

"I... I think so...."

Unfortunately for Edson, the citizens of Manila do not seem to care that he could have lost his leg (or worse) if the train moved on.

The stereotypical simple, friendly, smiling Filipinos the tourism industry tries to exploit were nowhere to be found.

Friends here who heard the story replied:

Oh my...I may be Filipino, but mostly Pinoys are assholes that don't give a f**k. Yeah, times have changed---for the worst I'm afraid. Just being frank about my race. :( As a matter of fact, almost every time I'd assist a woman to go down from either a jeep or FX, she'd sneer at me and say "hmp!" Geeze!!! Ungrateful BITCHES! Filipina women do NOT know, much less appreciate, chivalry. Just goes to show how much the latter generation (and some oldies) of Filipinos have sunk as regards breeding, ethics, and manners.

That is the very bad part of the Filipinos. They are stupid when it comes to sharing their help. If they do not know the person, they will not make a move to help.

Oh no! I know the feeling. I once got dragged by the train a few years ago and nobody cared. It sucks...

I'd like to think that is not so true. Most of the people I know would extend a hand to help someone up off the ground if they'd fallen in a situation like that. A few friends who are doctors, nurses, and physical therapists, have all volunteered their services and/or advice; something that touches us deeply after how such an incident transpired.

Could the citizenry of metro Manila be so desensitized to seeing maimed, crippled, amputated, and deformed beggars sitting and limping about that to see another about to be created while they get to watch is as if it's a video game, where one can maim and kill (virtual) hundreds in a quest to earn points? Or is this a greater problem, reaching outside the metro area? Outside the Philippines to the rest of the world?

When I lived in Japan, I would see television shows that often staged scenarios to see how Japanese people would react to someone in trouble and stage like scenarios in other parts of the world in an effort to study how different cultures react to the same situations. One I remember had a woman sobbing uncontrollably in a public space; one a foreigner in Tokyo, a Japanese woman in Moscow, and a Japanese woman in San Francisco. Muscovites allowed her to weep for just a few minutes before coming to her aid. In San Francisco, she waited around ten minutes before someone came to help. In Tokyo, the foreign woman wept and sobbed until she couldn't act it out any longer. Of course, in Japan, to be viewed publicly in a position of weakness is to lose face. The Japanese idea is to ignore the troubled person so that person will not feel as if they have lost face. The basic concept is that ignorance of another's weakness or trouble is politeness in the Japanese culture. As much as that may be the case, even then I doubt the Japanese would prefer to see someone lose a leg or life over them losing face.

In the end Edson sustained less physical injury than Wayne. Just a bruise on his left leg is all the damage done. Wayne had a big blue cast on his ankle for long afterwards which provided great fodder for his blogging...and his whimsical illustration skills. Here is one in his series of what he had to go through in taking a bath:
Um, no...there will be blog posts with like illustrations from Edson. A simple bruise doesn't lend itself as well to such entertaining Lucy-like situations!