Bus Ride Today

  For the last two and a half years I've been driving my '90 Ford Bronco II. And up until two weeks ago it's been a realible and good running car. Unfortunately the waterpump just went out and it doesn't take long before it starts to overheat. This isn't a big deal since the only two places I go to are work and school - the bus does the trick just fine.

  Today's bus ride to school started out like any other. The driver and I exchanged greetings and the bus continued to all scheduled stops. The bus ride gets kind of boring so I started texting my sister just to chat a little. The bus stopped again a few blocks after I got on. I didn't notice any of the people getting on except for this one lady. I noticed the bus driver started moving because the lady was taking forever and fearing that she would have to wait another 15 minutes for the next bus she screamed at the driver to stop and wait for her. I couldn't really see what she was doing. All I could see was her face and I didn't care much to see what was holding her up so I continued texting my sister.

  In doing this I was interrupted by the comment of this same lady as she passed my seat, "That was really rude." Though confused, I continued to text my sister. She added, "Can't even give up your seat for a woman with a stroller." I thought for a moment, "Is this lady talking to me?" She takes a step backwards and looks at me and continues, "What kind of man doesn't give up his seat?" I looked around the bus and noticed there were only 4 people in sight and I was the only male which meant there were about 20 seats available. She sat down behind me and continued, "Good bye Chivalry. Yey for Mexicans. Probably doesn't even speak english. He probably doesn't even speak a lick of English. Ugggghh. Looks like he hasn't even showered in a while." I've been described as a whitty person at times so naturally dozens of insults came to mind. But I held my tongue and just listened to this lady thinking, "What in the world has come over this lady that is making her act so nasty to a complete stranger?"

  The whole bus ride I was frustrated and a little upset. When I got off the bus I thought about it and thought about it. I was glad I didn't say the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or 8th thing that came to mind, but instead decided to ignore her and got off. I realized that there could've been hundreds of reasons why she was so angry, and quite possibly simply just chose to take it out on the first person she saw. I guess what I learned today is that sometimes our first instincts for example self defense, attack mode, yelling or insulting aren't always the best choices. We have database full of instincts and sometimes we have to take time to search for the right one. Maybe I'll see this lady again and maybe she'll be mean or maybe she'll be nice. Maybe I'll fantasize about strangling a bitch-who knows? However, regardless of what goes through my mind next time maybe I'll help her get her things on the bus.