Standing Up

 

Standing Up

A heavily pregnant woman boarded a crowded bus. The seated passengers avoided eye contact. The woman grasped a handhold, but the bus didn’t move. The driver rose. “Here you are, lady,’ he said. ‘Have my seat. I won’t need it while you’re standing up.”

This story triggered a memory. A few years back, while visiting our daughter’s family in Finland, we took a three-hour ferry ride from Helsinki to Estonia to visit that country’s markets and historic sights. Hundreds of passengers travel back and forth daily. Tourists go for the sights, but some Finns take the trip for other reasons.

Many goods are cheaper in Estonia. Restauranteurs and bar owners travel back and forth to buy spirits in bulk. Many board the ferry with empty suitcases, wagons, carts, and pallets and return with them full on the late afternoon ferry. 

With stroller, backpacks, and umbrellas, we joined the hordes queuing for the ship. My daughter had booked a four-bunk cabin hoping our two grandsons would nap, but my husband and I, weary from traveling with (or without) small children, climbed into the top bunks and collapsed into dreamland. We woke up as the boat docked.

Slogging through the rain (it always rains when we sight-see), we visited the town market buying some woolen Estonian mittens and dragging the stroller up and down cobblestoned streets — mostly up. One street was so steep that we stopped halfway up to contemplate our foolishness in attempting it but, with one grandson sleeping sweetly in his stroller and the other scrambling ahead, we soldiered on. As we caught our breath at the top, we realized that we’d lost the baby’s hat. Our daughter retraced our steps as we waited with slumbering baby and dancing toddler. The hat retrieved, we headed for the ship.

Back at the dock, many tired travelers pulled pallets filled with cases of wine or beer. Three hours  later, we disembarked in Helsinki. Skipping the now very long elevator line, we lugged the stroller, toddlers, and backpacks down the steps and into the rain to wait for the tram. 

The first tram was packed with people, suitcases, wagons, and cases of spirits. We decided to wait for the next one, but the first tram didn’t move. We noticed a man standing on the sidewalk with an empty stroller waving to a woman holding a baby sardined on the tram. When the crowd realized their dilemma, a couple on the tram gathered their suitcases, carts and cases and stepped off. The father boarded and we all applauded. 

We got home wet and exhausted yet inspired by the driver who wouldn’t move his tram despite his exacting schedule and the heavy-laden passengers who got off so the father could get on. 

Standing still or standing up to do what is right is always the right thing to do.