Young man kneels to clean up stranger's vomit on MRT train: 'He didn't flinch'
A young man was seen kneeling on the floor of an MRT train to clean up vomit left by an older commuter on Feb 20.
Stomper Kristine said the incident happened at about 8pm on the North-East Line, just before Hougang station, on a train heading towards Punggol.
She was seated next to a man in a red polo T-shirt, believed to be in his 50s, when she noticed him covering his mouth and gesturing towards her plastic bag containing a yusheng platter.
"I thought maybe the yusheng had a smell which made him unwell, so I moved away," she said. "I realised it was the plastic bag he wanted."
Shortly after, the man began vomiting. Another passenger offered him a plastic bag, but some of the vomit had already spilled onto the train floor.
Kristine said she offered tissue, thinking of the cleaning staff.
"But at this point, the young man took out his own tissue, removed his new book from his Kinokuniya plastic bag and made the bag accessible," she said.
"I thought he was just offering his tissue and plastic bag, but he went on to kneel and clean up the fresh vomit with tissue and his bare hands.
"He was focused on the task and didn't flinch. He wasn't looking around for validation."
Videos shared with Stomp show the young man crouching on the train floor in front of the older commuter as he wipes up the mess.
Kristine said the train was not crowded, though some passengers moved away when the man in red began throwing up.
The older commuter later stopped and was able to thank the youth, she added.
Kristine said she was moved by the young man's actions and admitted she felt a little ashamed of her "feeble help".
"I wanted to join in, but I had reached my stop by then," she said. Before alighting, she left another pack of tissue with him and commended him for stepping forward.
Looking back, she said she could have stayed to help instead of rushing to a gathering she was already late for.
What she witnessed, however, left her hopeful.
"A lot of media label youths the 'strawberry generation', but here was a young man who immediately stooped to clean up the mess — no second thoughts, no flinching," she said.
She added that she shared the videos to publicly commend him for his act of kindness.
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