[31] 席を譲るべきか否か（１） TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE A SEAT (1)

南山高等学校　２年　日英バイリンガル通信　NO. 31　February 24, 1992

　　席を譲るべきか否か（１）

　私は６０歳の男性である。ある日の夕方、家に帰るため電車に乗った。こんな時間だから立っていなくてはならないと思ったが，ほんの３０分だけ乗るのだから別に気にしなかった。
　ところが、その日は運悪く風邪気味で、どこまでも続く階段を登ってプラットホームに着くころは疲労こんぱい。発車して間もなく気分が悪くなり、座席に座りたいと思った。周りを見ると目の前に座っている若者は漫画を読んでいて、私を見ようとさえしない。その右隣りの二人の女子高生はぺちゃくちゃ話しており、左隣の若い女性は眠っているようだ。「どなたか席を譲って下さいと手を合わせた。
　とうとう目まいがして、立っておれなくなり、その場にしゃがみこんでしまった。必死で次の駅まで持ちこたえたが、しゃがんでいる間、声をかけてくださる人は一人もいなく、ましてや席を譲って下さる人は誰もいなかった。次の駅でプラットホームに這いずるようにして降りた。駅員さんが救急車を手配してくださった。
（１９９１年６月１６日「天声人語」翻案）

　　　　　TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE A SEAT (1)

　　I am a 60-year-old man. One evening I took a train to go back home. I knew I would have to keep standing in the train at that hour of the day. I did not mind that because it was only a 30-minute ride.
　　 Unfortunately, however, I had a slight cold that day. By the time I reached the platform, I had already been exhausted after climbing the endless stairs. Soon after the train started, I began to feel ill. I wanted a seat. I looked around. A young man sitting just in front of me was reading a comic book. He did not even look at me. Two high school girls sitting next to him on the right were noisily talking to each other. A young woman next to him on the left seemed to be sleeping. I prayed, “Please give me a seat.”
　　 At last I felt dizzy. I could no longer keep on standing. I sank to a crouch on the train floor. I desperately held myself in a crouching posture until the train arrived at the next station. During my agony, not a single passenger around me even inquired about me, much less gave up his or her seat to me. At the next station I crawled out onto the platform. A worker at the station called an ambulance for me.
　　(adapted form “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” June 16, 1991)