#0202_A_View_from_West_Jerusalem

“I'm pregnant, at the end of the ninth month and just about to give birth. I am a pretty small lady and it is not difficult to miss my pregnant stomach, especially in recent months…

I ride the light-rail almost every day and during all these months when my stomach stuck out, I can count on one hand the amount of people who gave me a place to sit. Yes, yes. These were not young people, but rather older women who apparently understood the difficulty. Women, men, soldiers, youth, Haredi and secular people all saw me, even looked at my stomach with a stare and chose to ignore it.

I am not writing this to whine. Sometimes the difficulty of standing for a long time is really unbearable when you’re pregnant, even for young women. All I ask is to raise awareness and perhaps open your eyes to these people [pregnant women] who travel by train and to care for them.

I'm probably not the only one who has experienced it. With a little sensitivity and attention to the environment, we may change the feeling of people who need our consideration, as well as the elderly and people with other disabilities.

[Selected Comments:]
– “One day I went on a bus and an elderly woman came on the bus and behind her a pregnant lady. I really wanted to get up and let them sit down but I could not stand with the pain in my leg. I overheard an elderly couple behind me talking about me, how dare I not get up and that ‘those religious people are not educated’… No one knows what the other is going through even if he looks young and healthy.”
– “I have to say, I have had the complete opposite experience. I took the light-rail every day and in almost all the train cabins, there was always someone who got up. It got to the point that sometimes I was embarrassed to board a completely packed train because I knew that no matter what many people would call me to sit in their place.”

– Noa Lazan’s post to ‘Jerusalemites’ Facebook Page

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#Jerusalem_Transportation #Society #Awareness #Surroundings #Pregnant

https://goo.gl/YJcxkc

https://www.facebook.com/1675349376080655/posts/2052022105080045