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Recently there were reports of 2 persons getting their foot stuck in the MRT gap between the train and the station platform while trying to board or alight the train. What seemed a trivial enough matter became significant enough to make it to Yahoo news. Anything MRT these days make news it seems.
As a commuter myself, when I read about such incidents when I was younger, I would think “how can anyone be so careless (and mental note – clumsy)…” The gap, frankly, is small and definitely not easy to miss. I mean, these people are not those who have mobility issues.
But as trains get increasingly crowded, pace of life gets increasingly faster, we all get increasingly wired and connected to everything, I find that my train journey gets increasingly stressful as well.
And whenever the jarring door-closing announcement comes on (u know, the “doors are closing, beep beep beep”), you can’t help panicking a little especially if you’re trying to get past the mum with pram, or elderly trying to keep his/her balance, or teenager with headphones on and eyes glued to his/her mobile device, without knocking onto anyone and getting out of the train in one piece…
Or, if you’re outside the train politely waiting for the passengers inside to make their way out, and for the remaining passengers inside the cabin to adjust into the empty spaces, and at the same time getting anxious not knowing if you can still make it into the train in time… You get my point.
And if your phone chooses to beep with a message or call at this moment, you might be like me who is sort of hopeless at multitasking – simply blank out for a moment not knowing if you should start to fumble for your phone and stop that ringing before everyone starts to stare at you annoyingly, or focus on finding your balance on your high-heels, or focus on avoiding bumping into the guy standing next to you, and oh, minding the what is it again? …
Ah yes, GAP!
So there. I don’t know about you, but I can quite conceivably imagine myself getting my foot stuck in the MRT platform gap (though thankfully, it hasn’t happened yet). It’s not really the gap you see. It’s our whole frame of mind.
Maybe if we could all just slow down a second, put aside our connected world for a while, and simply take the train. May not be able to erm, smell the roses on the way, but perhaps we’ll all start having more pleasant and “foot-safe” rides. Clear out the mess in the head a bit – “gap” the mind. (:
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