Tube Trauma

So I'm on my way to work, early this time, with a Metro in hand and wishful thoughts about going to he gym. I'm somewhere around Holborn or Chancery Lane, just a few stops from work, reading yet another article about carbon and the environment. I look up to see some guy sliding down the wall, it looked odd, like he was just sitting down, but it was obvious something was wrong when he just kind of flopped to the side.

For quite a few seconds everyone just looked and didn't know what to do. It was as if everyone was waiting for him to just sit back up, but of course, he didn't. The person in the seat next to him cradled his head so it didn't bash against anything, but that was about it. No one else did anything or seemed to know what to do, They just stood there like dumbfounded elephants. So I stepped in and decided it would be a good idea to stop the train from closing the doors and taking off again. I pulled the Emergency level hard. It pulls down like one of those big levers you see in the movies like in Frankenstein, but then it slides out with a solid click. It felt as if I actually was stopping the train. Quite a bizarrely powerful, in total control, and doing absolutely the right thing kind of feeling. It was quite surreal actually.

Then I crouched down to see what was wrong - I was right at the front so I don't know if people were actually trying to do something at this point, but I managed to talk to the guy and it turned out he had just fainted. Lucky because I wasn't so sure I would have known what to do if it was anything else. I didn't really know what to say so I asked him if he wanted to get off the train, which he said yes to, (go figure!), so another big guy mostly pulled him up and we helped him out to the seats. People still seemed completely dumbfounded, and my instructions, "Please put my bag on the platform", seemed to take quite a bit of repeating for some to get right!

It turned out this poor guy had fainted on the way to work and was heading home and had fainted again. I don't know what was wrong with him but I hope he was ok. I ended up leaving him with the station guy who said he would look after him. I suspect an ambulance probably came but I don't know. Perhaps I will try and find out tomorrow.

What really got me about this whole experience though was that no one did anything for quite some time. Its pretty obvious what had to be done - Stop the train and find out what is wrong with the guy. Get him off the train. Let train carry on. Simple, but people were just quiet, unsure of what to do, and holding back for some fear of something. I certainly surprised myself by pulling the emergency lever to stop the train and tell the driver someone had blackedout. It was only after that that people seemed to do anything (though I guess I was already doing most if anything that could be done!). I'm glad I did it though, there was something empowering about it, and I think for a fleeting moment there I felt a glimpse of what it is like to be a hero, and its true what they say, you just did what anyone would have done. You just reacted and didn't think and you hope that others would have done the same for you. Your not a hero but just someone who helped out a fellow human being in a time of need. Maybe there isn't all that much to being a hero afterall.

So ends my exciting day on the tube...