"Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race."
-William E. Gladstone
So I leave Parkview at 2:15 this afternoon in order to get to St. Mary's Elementary school for 2:45. A half an hour is plenty of time to travel such a short distance, since St. Mary's is just a couple blocks north of Copps Coliseum and I was already half way there (Parkview is directly across from Ivor Wynne Stadium). My bus comes, I find a seat, and I start to read my book for entertainment for the next short while.
Only I don't get to read too much. About 10 minutes in to my trip, the bus comes to a very sudden, screeching stop. It appeared that there was a man in an SUV parked in an area designated "NO PARKING"/ "NO STOPPING", because it was designed only for the entrance and exit of busses. For whatever reason, the man in the SUV... Let's call him Mr. Asshat... sees the bus and hears it's horn and decides to put his vehicle in reverse and places himself in a position that disallows the bus to move into it's own stopping area. Now the bus and Mr. Asshat's vehicle are maybe half an arm's length apart, and neither one of them intend on moving. Mr. Asshat flails his arms and frantically motions them forward telling Mr. Busdriver to pull up. Mr. Busdriver replies (to only himself and the few people huddled around his drivers seat... did I mention the bus was packed? It was...) "Well I can't now MISTER! I'll scratch your BMW and you'll sue my ass!".
So neither side intends on giving in. Proof: Mr. Asshat half opens his door (because it cannot possibly open all the way), and dangles one leg out, BUT he pulls out his phone and starts doing whatever he was doing on it (it looked like he was doing nothing). Mr. Busdriver just sits there... and sits... and sits. Time check: 2:35. I HAVE 10 MINUTES TO GET TO WORK, SOMEONE MOVE. NOOOOOOOWWWWWW!
Mrs. Passenger calls out: "Can I just get out here, I have to be somewhere in like 5 minutes?" Mr. Busdriver: "No. If you fall off the bus onto the street, it will be all my fault". Mrs. Passenger sits back down, cursing the whole situation. Mr. Asshat continues to live up to his name and is just sitting there, door open, but no longer on his cellphone. Now he's just pretending to look for things in his car.
Sitting, sitting, sitting.......
Mr. Teenage-Passenger: "Dude, do you want me to call the police?". Mr. Busdriver: "Naw, man, I'm calling my supervisor" (Good call Mr. Busdriver. When in a civil dispute, always call your HSR supervisor, who is located up the escarpment far down Upper James where it turns into Hwy. 6. He'll be there in a JIFFY ;). In the mean time, the police station is just around the corner. BUT WHO AM I??).
The "People of the Bus" (go up and down.... no, wait.....) begin to grow more and more angry, more and more impatient. Some thought it would be a fantastic idea to pound on the windows and scream as loud as they could to grab Mr. Asshat's attention. It worked wonders.... Mr. Asshat continued to be a dick and sat there, now not on his phone, now not even pretending to rummage through the items in his car... he was just sitting there looking forward.
Mr. Wanting-Togetoff says: "HEY EVERYBODY... LET'S JUST STARE AT HIM AND STICK OUR TONGUES OUT!!". Oh! That would really show him!! Ready? 1....2....3.....
Obviously it did absolutely nothing (Note: We didn't actually project the communal stare, but, if we did, I think it would have been comparable to the Care Bear Stare).
Sitting, sitting, sitting. It is now 2:45 (cue anxiety).
Mrs. Extremely-Angry somehow finds a piece of paper and magic marker (note to self: always carry stationary incase of accidents and freak bus incidences), and writes in bold black marker: MOVE YOUR CAR! WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF YOU!!! She then proceeds to pound on the windows and yell: "HEY! HEEEYYYYY!! LOOK AT ME! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!", to which Mr. Asshat continues to look forward, completely unphased and without hint that he is at all considering moving.
It is now 2:55.
Sitting, sitting, sitting.....
FINALLY, through whatever grace of whoever in the sky, MR. ASSHAT DRIVES AWAY! Just like that! As if none of this ever happened. He turned on his car, check his blindspot (Yeah.. there's still a bus full of angry people there ;),and drove away. So basically, he just held an entire bus of people hostage for the last 20 minutes because he was a JERK!
Now, I realize he was clearly a king of some sort, since he was in a BMW SUV of his own, and not one of the lowley "peasants" riding the bus. HOWEVER, even the peasants have to go places. And there were more "peasants" than there were of him, and I feel, if we had actually done the Bus People Communal Stare, he would have shit his Armani pants!
It seems to me that the majority of people these days run on a schedule that functions only for themselves, serving only their own needs, and makes little to no room for the consideration that, Oh! maybe someone else has something to do to. I am guilty of this at times, no doubt. And so, I do not excuse myself from this observation. After this instance, however, I think I am going to consider more seriously how my actions affect the lives of others. But I am one person, and there are SO many people I have observed who find it quite comfortable and just fine to reamain in their selfish ways. How is the world ever going to even begin to move to a better place (i.e. harmony among it's people and between people and the earth's riches) if we never let go of our ego's?
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