Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

After a passenger, surnamed Zhang, suffered from an acute hernia while flying with a domestic airline, the staff of the airline company refused to assist him. Although the cabin staff called an ambulance for Zhang, the plane didn't open its doors till 50 minutes after landing, and the staff argued with the medical staff on the ground about who was responsible for carrying Zhang, forcing him to crawl to the stretcher on his own. After the incident was made public, the airline offered compensation to Zhang, which he refused. Apart from professional standards, common decency should have meant staff, or other passengers, lent Zhang a hand. Perhaps the pain of other's indifference to his sufferings hurt Zhang even more than the hernia itself. At any rate, all of us, whether our duties oblige us or not, should try to look out for each other.