There was a woman on the bus yesterday who caught my eye. She sat at the front of the bus, and was on it when the driver began his route. She had shown him her half sheet of paper, presumably with directions on it.
She didn’t speak a word of English, only had her half sheet of paper.
I think she may have been eastern, but I’m not sure. I didn’t see her face, just her covered head and her cream-colored sheet-like clothing. I don’t know what they call this garb, so I’m going to have to stick with that as a description.
When we got to Downing, the bus driver turned around and told her that this was her stop. She shook her head, “no.” He insisted that this was her stop, and that this is what her half sheet of paper said. She continued to sit there, shaking her head, “no.”
The driver waited a minute longer and then said, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you, then.” He continued his route.
She waved the paper at another man who was sitting across from her. He read it, and said, “It says Downing. He tried to tell you. Downing was back there,” and he thumbed the direction of the back of the bus. Of course, she had no idea what he said, so she continued to sit there as he handed the paper back.
I wondered what she would do. I couldn’t tell her to get off the bus now, cross the street, and take the other bus back to Downing. I felt bad for her. Can you imagine being in another country, not speaking a word of their language and trying to ride their transit? What if I got off on the wrong exit? What if it was in a bad area? I kept thinking about this as we inched closer and closer to Aurora. I felt bad, really bad. But I had no idea if I could do anything to help this poor woman.
So I sat there. Rode the bus like I did every morning.
Eventually she got off. I think it was at Kramaria or so. Waaaay far away from Downing. Goddess, I prayed for her. What if it had been me? Would I have hoped that some kind soul would take me under their arm and point me in the right direction? *exhale* I felt guilty for not doing this for her. I didn’t know what else to do, though.
So, I watched her as our bus left her standing in a parking lot outside of a pawn shop. She looked frightened.
Who the hell would put a woman like this on a bus?? Did they really believe that she could find her way to where she was going? Did they explain to her what to do if she went too far? I know I wanted to blame someone for their stupidity because I felt so bad that I didn’t help her.
I should’ve done something.
5 Responses to “Lost in a foreign country.”
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:x 
:cry: 
8-) 
:wink:
May 31st, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Yeah.
You should have.
June 1st, 2008 at 5:36 am
Yes, you should have done something. The world is a horrible place for people like her, because of people like you who “should have” but didn’t. And the bus driver that didn’t take the time to make sure she understood him, or physically threw her off the bus… around here she wouldn’t have been allowed to stay on one stop after what she paid for anyway.
So, you are a horrible person. What are you going to do about it?
June 1st, 2008 at 7:01 am
Apparently the literary intent here did not penetrate either of your thick skulls. The intent was to convey the expression of guilt and embody the all so common phenomenon of bystander apathy.
Way to embrace literature, you goons.
Carry on.
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:56 am
I’m sorry, but to have a literary intent with a piece implies it is fiction. If it was marketed as fiction then perhaps people would read it as such. If you leave it up to the reader to guess then we will guess, and guess what - it made you sound like a jerk.
*My literary intent with this comment was to convey my utter contempt for pretentious arseholes who write fiction without marking it as such. In case that point didn’t carry clearly enough.
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:00 am
Sorry Frank, my blog, my rules.
Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to believe everything you read on the internet?
You can’t take everything at face value.
Besides, literary intent does NOT imply fiction– LIFE is where we come up with these lessons.
AND if the intent is to portray the bystander apathy effect, that does not necessitate me being exempt from experiencing the lesson.