I went and saw Cinderella Man over the weekend. It was a good movie -- One of those movies that puts things into perspective. For more details on the movie, check out Amy's Post .
Almost as interesting as the movie, though not quite, was something that happened while I was watching it. I'm always overly considerate when I go to a movie. If there is enough room, I try not to sit directly in front of someone else so I don't block their view. And I'm always careful not to kick the seat in front of me. So you can imagine my surprise when a guy sitting behind me, one seat over, put his BARE FEET up on the seat next to me! BARE FEET!!! You know, it's bad enough to put your feet up when no one is sitting next to them and you have shoes on. But putting your bare feet up on a seat right next to where someone is sitting!??? Who does that????
So anyway.... I'm sitting there trying to decide if this is worth me taking the time and effort to say something to this guy. About the time I decide that it is, someone else sitting behind me (Who was not with the barefoot guy) tells him he needs to put his feet down because they are right next to my head. How cool was that!? It's always nice to see people stand up for a random stranger. It lets you know that there are still some cool people in the world.
That situation reminded me of when I was going home from work on the CTA Red Line during rush hour. In case you're not already aware, CTA Trains (Especially the Red Line) are packed with people during rush hour. You don't even have to worry about holding on to anything because so many people are jammed into each train car so tight, there is not enough room for you to fall if the train makes a sudden stop.
So I'm on the train when all of a sudden a scrawny teenager says to a much bigger, thuggish-looking guy, "Hey, you just took that lady's wallet!" The thug (Since at this point in the story he had taken a wallet, I can aptly call him a thug now, rather than "Thuggish-looking") started talking trash to the scrawny kid, dropped the wallet on the ground and ran off the train at the next stop.
That situation exemplified the quote "All it takes for evil to prosper is good men to do nothing." Of course, the scrawny kid on the underground Red Line had to use a bit more courage confronting the wallet-stealing thug than the guy at the movie theater who asked the guy next to him to move his feet. But nevertheless, their attitude and concern for others was the same.