Chivalrous Confusion

Ok here's another train story. This one happened on the subway today. 

I was sitting on the subway which was pretty crowded and I was happy to have a seat. We get to a stop and people get on. There's no seats so people stand. This lady started standing right by me. I looked at her and saw that she wasn't an old lady but she was an older lady. Maybe almost an old lady. I couldn't really place the age. I'm always happy to give up my seat on the subway to old ladies or mothers with kids or whatever but I wasn't sure how to handle this older lady. 

I felt if I got up and offered her my seat it might be like saying. "Hey! You're an old lady now! Take my seat. Cause you're an old lady now." Would she appreciate having the seat? Would it be courteous of me to offer a seat to a woman regardless? Or would she be upset because she might have thought that I classified her as an 'old lady' when she wasn't. Would she go home thinking she looks so old that someone offered her a seat on the subway? And be upset?  I didn't want to be the first person to suggest something like that. But what's the cutoff age for that kind of stuff? I didn't want to offend her but then again she was standing right in front of me. Was I being rude? I didn't know what to do.

Anyway I kind of looked up at the older lady hoping for a sign of eye contact like, 'Do you want my seat?' type contact. But she didn't notice that I was trying to get her attention. So I sat there and thought about how to handle the situation some more.  We pulled into another stop. People got on and off. I didn't get up and I kept thinking about getting up. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I had sat for too long and the moment of chivalry had passed. I decided true chivalry involves not overthinking and just doing. So I didn't give up the seat which was nice cause I was happy to be sitting. When we pulled into my station I got up and she immediately took my seat.

So that was that. Who knows if I handled it right. Maybe she was happy. Maybe she thought I was a jerk. Maybe she would have been unhappy to have the seat. Or happy. Or whatever.

You can never tell what people might think about an act of chivalry.

ok bye!

tOdd

Hey! Here are some pics! More soon...