Bus Encounter

         

         It was a scorching hot Friday noon. I barely managed to catch the bus for a relaxing escape at home to unwind. Breathing heavily after running out of the gate of the campus with two heavy luggages, I was almost dying from exhaustion when I saw a seat near to the door. I heaved a sigh of relief. I immediately sat down, put on my headphones and drifted away in my own world.

            The commuters literally flooded in ten minutes later, when the bus arrived at another bus stop. I was choking for the sudden scent of “eau de parfum” lingering in the bus, from all those commuters: men and women, young and old, white-collar workers, blue-collar workers, locals, foreign holidaymakers... There was a young lady who was heavy with a child, with a bag of groceries in her left hand and a young boy, probably her son, holding her other hand tight. Her hands were shaking while she tried to grab the nearest support in the bus.

            “Ah Moi! Can’t you see that your seat is reserved for people with special needs? Give your seat to her!” A woman in her 50’s barked at me, while pointing at the signboard near my seat. I could not care less about her. No! I was dropping dead myself and my load is no less than hers! I kept snoozing away in spite of the boisterous and stifling crowd.

            Amidst my blurry vision, I noticed a little boy standing up in the bus. I rubbed my eyes. That little boy from elementary school had actually stood and gave his seat to the pregnant lady! I could not believe my eyes. My eyes were wide open. Instantaneously my face blushed as red as a beetroot and my head drooped low.

How could I, being a college student and a builder of the national future in the making, be that selfish and full of myself? Why did only my two luggages and my exhaustion enter my mind? Even students from the elementary school understand and practised the moral values learned in school. Why? What was the use of being a straight-A student in SPM but failing to internalize all those noble values and the definitions which I had memorized for thus long into part of my being?

            The bus screeched into a halt as it arrived at the jetty. I lugged my luggage, with a heavy heart added to that load. As the bus faded from my view, I could not hold my feeling of shame. Every step I took to the ferry got heavier with remorse, but lighter at the same time, knowing that I have just had a good class on being kind to the others.