Hope Renewed.

I just came back to school after a week off for Spring Break. I spent my break at the Jersey Shore, where I got to see a few friends briefly before coming down with bronchitis and a fever of 102. All in all, though, it was nice to relax for the week and be away from the usual grind.

On Thursday, I came into the city for a meeting. It's super easy from the shore--I just hopped on a New Jersey Transit bus. On my trip back that afternoon, I sat in the very back seat where I figured I would be able to take up two seats without bothering anybody. A gentleman sat down in the seat directly ahead of me and turned to face me through the crack of the seat. "Would you mind if I put my seat back?" he asked. He asked! I said, "absolutely, go for it!" and spent the rest of my ninety minute trip in disbelief. I've taken my fair share of busses back and forth from New York, not to mention airplanes, and never once has anybody asked before cranking their seat in my face.

Personally, I almost never put my seat back. It makes so little difference to my comfort and impedes so much on the subsequent discomfort of the person behind me that I never quite understood the purpose of the reclining seat in the first place. Still, I've come to accept that very few people share my desire to keep others comfortable and have been reduced to muttering the occasional "asshole" under my breath as seats have come down on my face while I tried to situate myself.

But hearing a regular guy, in a suit and probably commuting from work, turn to ask a sweatshirt-clad college student if she minds if he puts his seat back tells me that maybe there really is hope for the future of common decency. It takes so little effort to simply ask the question instead of assuming you're entitled to being the most comfortable s.o.b. on the bus. So thank you, sir, for restoring my faith in humanity.