Accident: 80-Plus Uncle Tumbles Down Escalator

It was not a pretty sight. Coming from lunch and walking back to our client's office, we only saw it by chance. We were one floor below the ground at the Raffles MRT Station near the exit —just past Polar Puff & Cakes and a few steps away from the ladies' room where they usually distribute copies of the free newspaper— when we heard a shriek followed by a series of thumps. We turned our heads to the direction of the sound to see a man rolling down the escalator, one steel step at a time. There was a slight pause as he tried to break his fall, but in a fraction of a second, he was tumbling down again.

I raced to climb the steps but a gentleman beat me to it and was able to stop uncle from falling down further. Thanks to the quick thinking of another individual, one I never saw, the escalator came to a halt after that person pressed the stop button. Immediately, the lady who was originally ahead of uncle came rushing down towards him. A second individual, a young man, followed her. Meanwhile, the gentleman who got to uncle first was trying to help him up his feet. All these happened very quickly.

"No, no, no!" was all I could say. I was concerned that uncle might have broken his back or something and it might not be wise to force him up. I am reminded of Rescue 911's advice: Do not move an injured person unless there is imminent danger. I was relieved when the gentleman stopped after a few futile attempts. The victim, uncle, was visibly shaken but conscious and managed to answer when asked if he was alright.

"I want to go up," he said, shifting his eyes to where he would have already been had he not fallen.

Uncle had red marks on his arms and a bit of blood was coming out from his head. The same lady who came rushing down earlier brought out a tissue from her bag and placed it over the wound on uncle's head. The young man who had followed her took out his phone and held it in front of him.

"Don't take photo, call for help!" The lady exclaimed.

"I'm not taking photo; I'm calling for help," the young man replied.

And so he did. The first MRT staff, a lady, came in a little over a minute. Another MRT staff, a man this time, joined him shortly.

"Age 80 and above..." were the only words I could make out of what he said into his radio. He then had to direct an absent-minded man who was making his way up the escalator to the stairs on the right.

A few minutes later he was joined by a third MRT staff, also male. No sooner did he arrive when a lady staff came next, this time bringing along with her a wheelchair and a first aid kit.

With no time to spare, uncle was guided down the escalator as he limped one steel step at a time until he reached the bottom of the steps and finally sat on the wheelchair. No stretcher. No carry. Judgment call made. The physical assessment must have been too quick for me not to see. Maybe the look on uncle's face said he didn't have a broken back. I make no judgment. I only note down my observations. Besides, I have to trust them — I'm sure the members of the MRT staff are well-trained to handle these types of emergencies. At least uncle didn't look to be in too much pain as he was being guided towards the wheel chair.

Rules Are Made To Be Broken, Even In A Fine City Called Singapore

Rules were made to be broken. For every written law that exists, someone's bound to break it. More so for unwritten ones. This couldn't have been more evident yesterday morning, as I set out on my way to work.

First, there was that man on the escalator, who got on the right side and held his position as the people in front of him continued walking upwards. The lady following him said, "Excuse me" and overtook through the space left between him and the person on his left. Three more overtakers followed. But the man never budged.

Second, those large yellow lines on the MRT platorm. Someone always has to play the role of the antagonist, right? I was willing to bet an entire day's meal that someone would. What was his or her character going to be like this time? A more senior member of the society (to distinguish from a senior citizen) who's earned his or her right to bully the rest? An office hotshot who gives off the don't-talk-to-me attitude with a little pursing of the lips and wrinkling of the forehead? An extraordinarily cool guy or gal who gets to play dumb and doesn't understand the concept of arrows or the logic of letting people come out of the train first before boarding, perhaps? Or someone just mean, or selfish, or maybe a winner who always gets to let other people eat his dust because he's always so far ahead? I had my answer faster than I could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ten times. Yesterday, it had to be the office hotshot.

The third and last illustration. Ahh! But this one shows there is hope. When the train was on its third stop after we boarded, a pregnant lady got on and stood right in front of the macho who occupied the seat nearest the door, the one with the huge sign above that said "Priority Seat. Be considerate. Give up this seat to a passenger with special needs." She smoothed her hand over her tummy, as if to say, "Hey, look at me. I'm pregnant." One, two, three seconds passed. The guy didn't move. The lady seated across him raced everyone else and stood up, offering her seat to the pregnant lady. The story doesn't end there though. Another three stations away and the macho was given an opportunity to redeem himself. An elderly couple got on the train, with the man looking older and not as strong as his wife. This time the macho didn't pass up the chance to do the right thing. He stood up and offered his seat to the elderly man.

It was going to be a fine day in the fine city of Singapore, after all.

Dial A Friend

There on the train, he stood by the door.
With his right index finger, he dialed his friend.
When that didn't work, he used his thumb.
He gave a sigh so I thought he was done.
But then he saw me staring so I threw my gaze on the floor.
Then he looked at his nails just to make sure.
With a flick of his finger, he let it go.
Then reached into his nose and dialed some more.