This has nothing to do with crafting but I just needed to jot this down somewhere. Bear with me if you please.
Yesterday, I was on the bus home and it was not that packed, but not that empty either.
(I was sitting behind the left-side priority seating area.)
The right-side priority seating area was occupied by a little old lady, a big man dressed in black and some other passengers. The left-side priority seating area was occupied by a young lady obsessed with her smartphone (with 2 empty seats beside her), and an elderly couple.
The priority-seating areas bus looks something like this (for those who want a better visualiazation):
O A O
O I O
O S O
O O L O
O O E O O
A woman with a stroller struggled to get on, and by the time she was on the bus, NOBODY got up from the priority seating areas to let her "park" her stroller. So, she stopped right in the aisle (with all the said people sitting down too busy looking at their devices).
The bus driver proceeded to tell her she can't block the aisle, so she struggled to manoeuvre the stroller into the (small) two-empty-seat area (left side of the bus) beside the lady with her phone. This phone lady did not look up until the stroller obviously distracted her during its attempt to fit in the small space.
The phone lady looked up (with a somewhat bewildered look) and said, "Would it helped if I got up?" The stroller lady (who was already losing patience) answered with a fast and harsh reply, "YES." The stroller got into place and the phone lady moved to an empty seat beside the man dressed in black (YES, STILL IN THE PRIORITY SEATING AREA). The elderly couple remained seated but the helped the lady to get her stroller in place.
A few stops later, the little old lady moved to another seat, but the big man and phone lady remained in that row of priority seats. Another lady with a stroller proceeded to get on. This one would mean it would have to go on the right side, which was now half occupied by the man in black and the phone lady. While this new stroller lady struggled to push up the folding seats to make room for the stroller, the man in black did not even flinch or look up from his phone, and nobody budged from their seats.
Neither did the driver, in both cases, make an announcement to ask people to give up their courtesy seats or make room for the strollers. He was in a hurry and even drove off quickly without making sure the old lady was seated and the stroller brakes were on.
The woman managed to get her stroller in place, and she shot the man a dirty look as she took a seat.
As I got up from my seat to get off the bus, I turned back and was appalled to see that the back half of the bus was half EMPTY. I felt truly disappointed by all the people who contributed to this selfish bus ride, myself included.
Before you say anything about the pot calling the kettle black, I am not writing this post to shoot down these passengers who did not lift a finger to help the ladies with their strollers, nor am I saying the driver was wrong not to have told off passengers for not giving up the seats.
I am questioning my inability to be assertive in this kind of social situations. I have witnessed many of these situations where people would not hesitate to help or tell off others who were not doing the right things.
Why couldn't I have told off all the people who refused to give up their seats?
Why couldn't I have gone forward to help the lady with the folding seats?
Why didn't I get up from my seat to move to the back of the bus?
WHY CAN'T I BE ASSERTIVE WHEN THE NEED ARISES?
Why am I such a wimp?
I really wished I could have done something constructive on that bus. I really wish I have the courage to speak up and tell off strangers when these things happen. Maybe I'm just afraid of getting told off by even more assertive people.
Over all, with that aside, the more important question is:
WHY ARE PEOPLE SO OBSESSED WITH THEIR SMARTPHONES NOWADAYS?
Now, that's the most puzzling question of all.
Nikki
