One of the things that I greatly appreciate in my life right now is Aldon, my car - and thanks to my uber amazing parents. When people try to tell me how blessed I am to have them, I respond by asking them to tell me something I dont already know! Blessed doesn't even begin to describe!!
Many people might say it's just a car, and there are many more reasons to consider myself blessed. I agree, but I'd beg to differ at the same time. You see, the struggle without a car as an international student in this country is real. You ride the bus... everywhere - To the grocery store to get some groceries and then have to ride a cab back cause you bought way too much stuff; to the mall to shop; to go see the movies; to the hospital when you're sick; to the restaurant to get some food; to the airport with your huge suitcase(s). You ride the bus EVERYWHERE. Heck if buses went through drive through's I'm sure we'd do that too.
I had to ride the bus for many years (and still do), and whether you're a regular on the bus or not, you understand that its a public means of transportation, and therefore, you get to see, come in contact with, get rubbed on, get spoken to, or even sneezed on by random people. I have experienced some of these and observed some. Thankfully, getting sneezed on is one that I observed rather than experienced, but there is a lot of other things I have observed on the bus, and one particularly bothers me immensely.
On a bus full of people, with other people getting on, someone (or some people) have their bags or stuff on seats and deliberately refuse to pick them up consequently leaving people standing.
We live in a world where the value of people and human life in general is plummeting at a rapid rate and the value of things just seems to be on the rise. In this modern day, the value we have for fellow human beings is restricted to family and close friends. People who we don't know or are not familiar with don't get any respect if they don't earn it. People who we dont know or are not familiar with come in contact with us, and we simply dont care about them because "hey, I don't know her/him." People who we don't know or are not familiar with get on the bus and need a seat but our bags need a seat way more than they do. I cannot tell you just how sick this makes me. Words fail me.
Whatever happened to loving our neighbors as ourselves? Whatever happened to treating others the way we want to be treated? Move away from the bus scenario for a little bit. Look around you, and at the news. A teenage boy gets shot because he was playing his music too loud. He couldn't be asked to turn it down? A plane goes missing and one speculation is pilot suicide. He wanted to kill himself and taking 236 (#?) innocent people with him was the best way to do it? A man catches his teenage daughter sneaking around with a boy she's supposedly dating and the way to remedy the situation is a fatal bullet to the male teen?
Now think about yourself. Everybody knows how you're treating people that you love and care about, but how are you treating complete strangers? How are you interacting with people that you know nothing about? How is your communication with a random person impacting the lives of others around you? Regaining the value of human life in the nations can only begin one person at a time. We are human and we err, and no one is completely innocent of deliberately treating someone negatively. But change cannot come until we all make up our minds to see people as valuable lives, and not just simply as people. Until we understand that a persons comfort is more important than a bag's, there's no moving forward.
I don't know what bags you're placing in peoples seats in your journey. I don't know if you see bags being placed in peoples seats and ignore them even when you have the authority to order them to be removed. Random strangers deserve to be treated as valued human beings. Whether you know them or not is irrelevant. Whether they are kind to you or not is irrelevant. Resolve in your heart to be the image of Christ to people regardless of their affiliation with you. How you treat the people already in your life is important. Anyone can be inconsiderate, have a nasty attitude, and a smart mouth. But your true test of strength of character is how you treat people that are not in your life; how you treat complete strangers.
That is bus lessons... as i do it.
~***shanpepe***~
Photo Credits
Many people might say it's just a car, and there are many more reasons to consider myself blessed. I agree, but I'd beg to differ at the same time. You see, the struggle without a car as an international student in this country is real. You ride the bus... everywhere - To the grocery store to get some groceries and then have to ride a cab back cause you bought way too much stuff; to the mall to shop; to go see the movies; to the hospital when you're sick; to the restaurant to get some food; to the airport with your huge suitcase(s). You ride the bus EVERYWHERE. Heck if buses went through drive through's I'm sure we'd do that too.
I had to ride the bus for many years (and still do), and whether you're a regular on the bus or not, you understand that its a public means of transportation, and therefore, you get to see, come in contact with, get rubbed on, get spoken to, or even sneezed on by random people. I have experienced some of these and observed some. Thankfully, getting sneezed on is one that I observed rather than experienced, but there is a lot of other things I have observed on the bus, and one particularly bothers me immensely.
On a bus full of people, with other people getting on, someone (or some people) have their bags or stuff on seats and deliberately refuse to pick them up consequently leaving people standing.
We live in a world where the value of people and human life in general is plummeting at a rapid rate and the value of things just seems to be on the rise. In this modern day, the value we have for fellow human beings is restricted to family and close friends. People who we don't know or are not familiar with don't get any respect if they don't earn it. People who we dont know or are not familiar with come in contact with us, and we simply dont care about them because "hey, I don't know her/him." People who we don't know or are not familiar with get on the bus and need a seat but our bags need a seat way more than they do. I cannot tell you just how sick this makes me. Words fail me.
Whatever happened to loving our neighbors as ourselves? Whatever happened to treating others the way we want to be treated? Move away from the bus scenario for a little bit. Look around you, and at the news. A teenage boy gets shot because he was playing his music too loud. He couldn't be asked to turn it down? A plane goes missing and one speculation is pilot suicide. He wanted to kill himself and taking 236 (#?) innocent people with him was the best way to do it? A man catches his teenage daughter sneaking around with a boy she's supposedly dating and the way to remedy the situation is a fatal bullet to the male teen?
Now think about yourself. Everybody knows how you're treating people that you love and care about, but how are you treating complete strangers? How are you interacting with people that you know nothing about? How is your communication with a random person impacting the lives of others around you? Regaining the value of human life in the nations can only begin one person at a time. We are human and we err, and no one is completely innocent of deliberately treating someone negatively. But change cannot come until we all make up our minds to see people as valuable lives, and not just simply as people. Until we understand that a persons comfort is more important than a bag's, there's no moving forward.
I don't know what bags you're placing in peoples seats in your journey. I don't know if you see bags being placed in peoples seats and ignore them even when you have the authority to order them to be removed. Random strangers deserve to be treated as valued human beings. Whether you know them or not is irrelevant. Whether they are kind to you or not is irrelevant. Resolve in your heart to be the image of Christ to people regardless of their affiliation with you. How you treat the people already in your life is important. Anyone can be inconsiderate, have a nasty attitude, and a smart mouth. But your true test of strength of character is how you treat people that are not in your life; how you treat complete strangers.
~***shanpepe***~
Photo Credits
