Mr. Purple Hat
On Saturday night I got on the tube (metro/subway) on my way home. I had an exhausting day, and couldn’t wait to find a seat. The tube consisted of multiple carriages, each with 3 doors and about 30 seats. I got on through the middle doors and notice an entire section of 10 seats completely empty. I thought “what luck!” Until I noticed why. In the area in front of the doors where I entered there was a KFC Pepsi branded soft drink cup. It was placed upright in the centre and had coke spilled throughout the carriage. The main impact, probably due to the direction of the train, was the area with the 10 free seats.
There was trails of spilled coke all over the floor, and surely no one wanted to get their shoes dirty, so no one sat there. The cup was half full, and beside the open soft drink cup was the lid without the straw, turned upside down, full of coke. Noticing all this, I did the smart thing. I found the seat with almost no spillage and sat down, patting myself on the back for my intelligence and foresight. Mr. Shiny Black Jacket was not so lucky. He came in after me, stepped on the spill and sat down frustrated. I tried not to show any emotion, but in earnest, I felt good about my decision.
I had 12 more stops until I got home. At the next stop, Mr. Neon Jumper and Ms. Adidas Sneakers walked in. They were holding hands, and probably about to start their night. Their excited looks changed as soon as they sat down, and realized the floor was sticky. I looked at them and smiled, all of us acknowledged the situation and moved on. They tried to maintain the excitement through conversation and ignoring what just happened to their shoes.
The train continued to move and got to another stop. This time all the cola that was left in the lid had spilled, but the coke in the cup still remained. The area in front of the doors was completely sticky, and people kept entering. These people would realize what was going on, and then decide if they wanted to stand or find a seat. The cup and the lid were still in the centre, with the remnants of the liquid still threatening to spill. This continued for the next eight stops. It was the same pattern for the Punjabi Family that walked in, for Mr. Hipster Hip Hopper, the Stocking Sisters, the Fashionable Couple…
Up to this point each of us had noticed the spill, the cup, the lid, and the entire situation but proceeded to move on because it’s just the way life is. It’s just the unfortunate situation of getting on this specific carriage at this time of night. It’s just London after 9pm on a weekend.
It. Is. Just. Life.
Life kept happening to us all, until the 11th stop, where Mr. Purple Hat got on the tube.
Mr. Purple Hat was a peculiar character. He may have been 40 or so, older that most people in the carriage. He seemed tired, and looked as if he had spent the Saturday working. When he got on, he initially did what everyone did. Step on the floor, realize it was sticky, and then find a spot to place himself. After 10 seconds however, he went back to the quarter filled cup, picked it up and moved it to the side. A stop later, he picked it up again and threw it in the trash.
Mr. Purple Hat did what what we all should have done, and we never even got to thank him.
The moral of the story is obvious right — clean up the trash, save the environment, have a better city etc? If that is the only takeaway you get, then that’s fine, but let me add some more context.
Let me ask you a question I was pondering as all of this was going on. It was a question my coach asked me.
Are you present to what is going on in the world, or are you resigned?
Resigned means to accept the conditions of the world you live in even if they are unpleasant. Resigned is accepting life as it is and not doing anything about it. Resigned was looking at the cup and saying its not my problem.
See what happened on the tube that night is what is happening everywhere. There is a mess that is created — intentional or not. Most of us are looking out for ourselves and try to avoid the mess. We make sure our possessions are secure and we come out ahead. When we see other people tripping where we could have tripped, we help them or we acknowledge their struggle. This is usually in the form of a smile or a donation.
It takes 10 stops on the tube, for someone to pick up the trash, and fix the situation even though the mess is not theirs. Mr. Purple Hat may not have realized it but he was standing up for me, the people on the tube, his community, and his city. He chose not to let the spillage get worse, and clean up a mess that someone else had made. He stood for something. He participated in the world around him. He reminded me of that lesson and if I ever see him again, I will thank him.
I’ll end by asking the question that left me pondering:
Are you present to what is going on in the world? Or are you resigned?
