I remember reading a really great post from the Chocolate Belly recently about pregnant women not getting the seat privileges on mass transit -- being lumped under the moniker of disabled. The post also posed the question as to whether one would give up his, or her seat to a pregnant woman.
Not to pat myself on the back, but I am a big proponent of this. It makes me feel good, and is respectful to the woman and the precious cargo she carries. But I've been burned before, and last night I got burned again.
On an ultra-packed, standing-room-only 5:38 train out of Penn, I had a seat - a prime commodity, like beachfront property in the Hamptons. I saw a woman get on the train, who looked pregnant. She wasn't showing amazingly, but she was pregnant.
I deliberated for a few seconds, and got up. I tapped her on the shoulder, and offered her the seat.
She turned me down. It turned out she was getting out in a few stops and would probably be harder to get up after sitting down.
I didn't want to sit back down; that's kinda rude. In case she needed the seat, the offer would stand for as long as I was on the train. Turns out, so did I - stand, that is.
What's worse than that?
Some other bonehead who happens to call himself a man gets on the train, spies the seat, and claims it. Not once did he consider the fate of this woman with child.
What is wrong with people these days? There were many men sitting down, and none of them even flinched to give her the seat.
Men: Give up your seats, before you give up your souls
Pregnant Women: Take the seat.
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