The bus station was a small, obscure retail space in a parking lot that looked abandoned. It was freezing cold; the sun was weak and starting to hide. After double-checking for the express bus departure from Middletown to Port Authority station in Manhattan, I decided to wait outside where at least the air was fresh.
The bus finally arrived. A young Caucasian man in a ‘rapper’ look who had been wandering around during my wait offered: “Do you need help, Miss?” “No thank, you.” No one believes it, but I have learnt to carry 2 suitcases and a carry-on sola (these came all the way from Miami and was my luggage for the tail of Winter in NYC and for the scorching heat in India). My method earns some looks of amazement in public places, but I love this independence.
There were only 3 more women boarding the bus, and the driver took off, after exchanging some messages through his radio. When we are way into our ride, he got told-off over his radio for having departed and leaving a passenger behind. He asked if we should go back, and they said NO. Right after that, he got told-off again, apparently by someone different, for having left a couple of minutes earlier, leaving a passenger, and not going back for him/her. His argument got so heated that he stopped the bus, and started asking to us 4 passengers to voice what we had witnessed. Then, to cover his back, he asked us if we would document in writing our ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to his version of the incidents (sure, he was telling the truth), and provided him with our contact info in the event that things got worse. The poor driver, an Afro-American driver probably close to retirement, was so upset, that I was concerned about his health. The worst thing is, that there was no passenger at the station when I boarded -I was the last one to do so-, and that there was another bus leaving to Port Authority only 10 minutes after this one!
I wonder if this driver had no witnesses or if he did not have the smartness of asking that we testify, what would have happened to him? How many injustices like that are? Was it a question of lies or just miss-communication/miss-understanding?
“As for sentient beings who are bad-natured,
When I see they are oppressed by negativity and pain
May I cherish them just like I am encountering
A precious treasure that is difficult to find!”
[ From “The Eight Verses of Transforming the Mind” by Geshe Langri Tangpa]
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