Friday, November 18, 2005

I remember a bus driver treating me like a human.

This is a tough one for me, because the memory itself is in patches, as if it were a picture sewn on a quilt, but parts of the fabric have frayed, and I don't remember my motivation or how I got into the mental state I was in.....but I digress. I'll try and start the story from the beginning. No, not the beginning...but as close to the beginning as I can.

I'm in Vancouver. I am on the sidewalk outside the Channel 1 Klub, not on the Denman entrance, but around the corner on the side street. I am feeling very angry and frustrated, desparate. I think I may have gone into the Channel 1 to ask my friend for some money, and been told to piss off...and I needed the money, I'm sure. But whatever the reason, I am feeling so hopeless that I begin to bang my forehead against the wall of the building. Bang it, over and over, as hard as I can. I think I am trying to knock myself unconscious so I won't have to feel like such a loser.

"Stop that! What are you doing?" I look up, and it's a city bus driver who I'm on "Hi, how are ya" basis with. He must have been on his break, looked over and seen my scene. He proceeds to talk to me for about five minutes, not a lot of time. Hardly any time at all. But in those few minutes I begin to feel like a human again, like someone with enough dignity to not mutilate their forehead in public.

I can see why, as I look back into my brain for this memory, I have remembered the parts I have. The reason for my despair was unimportant. The almost anonymous man who was perhaps an angel....I will never forget.

3 comments:

Spoke said...

One of my favorite moments of being treated as a human came after I treated someone else as a human.I knew a prostitute,Naida,who was dedicated to crack-cocaine.She came into the Christian run thrift store I trucked for in time to see a "good Godly woman" kick out another prostitute asking for clothing. She had no money.A bad "trick" stole her clothing and it was raining.She stand there in a t-shirt and panties.
When she left crying, I grabbed clothing from the racks and ran out after her. When I came back into the store, I shared my disgust for the woman's actions in front of staff and customers alike.My friend Naida heard it all and came over and kissed my fore-head before she left. The store fell silent,and God smiled, I'm sure of it. I felt human in the East side zoo where many are treated like animals.

layne (herman) said...

the only bus driver i remember was one who drove the city bus that we caught to get home from school.

one day we were in the back of the bus and my friend, Lisa, was tossing ice at an adult passenger. granted this was not appropriate behavior by any means. anyways this fellow passenger got up and came to the back of the bus and flipped us off, and the bus driver kicked this adult off of the bus. in truth, we should have been the ones kicked off.

i like to think that this bus driver was sticking up for us because he saw an adult being in appropriate with youth; i do not think he knew what the real reason behind this adult's action was.

anyways, the next day when the bus rolled up he told us all to get on the bus and did not charge us the fare. at one point in the journey home he pulled the bus over and told us that he was being assigned to a new route.

i do not remember the reason he gave for his being reassigned, or if he even gave one.

weareallghosts said...

Sweet story... Amazing how people come into our lives for a reason.