Today I sighted a social issue, one that actually forced me to pay attention to it merely because it happened on a bus that should take me to my late appointment. A common social issue, for some, a man not paying his bus fares and still begs for money from passengers. But what occurs to me is not only on poverty, and also the perception of the public towards it.
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It was the next stop from where I got on the bus, and the bus driver was doing some waving gesture to somebody. I later realized that it wasn’t a friendly gesture. The bus driver was stopping a man from boarding the bus, but with failure. Apparently, the driver seems to already know the ragged looking man carrying many plastic bags filled.
The man, I will call him Walter from here onwards, was a skinny and frail man but with his hair well combed backwards. Walter ignored the objection from the driver, boarded and placed his bags in the center of the bus. The driver was persistent and he wanted Walter to get off the bus unless he was to pay the fares.
Walter doesn’t seem like a demanding person and was very soft-spoken. In fact, so soft-spoken that I never caught a single word he said in the entire incident. He then tried to ask for money from the passengers, which the driver objected as well.
“No auntie, don’t give him money. This is not his first time already,” he shouted from his seat in a somewhat polite manner. Then he added, “Eh you cannot just ask for money from the passengers. You cannot always do this.”
The female passenger tugged her purse back in when the driver stopped her. The truth is, even I wanted to spare Walter my extra dollar coin, simply because I was in hurry and I wanted the bus to get moving. Walter walked to the driver and tried to talk his way through, but was futile.
The driver, later on, decided to refuse Walter’s departure and shut the exit. He threatened to call the police and get Walter arrested. Finally, the bus was moving to the next stop. More passengers boarded, and in a desperate attempt, Walter ungracefully begged from the passengers.
“Uncle, don’t bother about him. Don’t give him money,” the driver advised the passenger.
Still the man gave Walter some coins, which the driver refused as well. Seems like the driver wanted to stop Walter from doing this for good. He made a phone call and intentionally converse loudly so that Walter would hear it from behind. The driver was supposedly reporting to the police and Walter was panicking. The trick worked.
Walter desperately pleaded with the driver in several attempts, walking back and fore from the driver’s seat and his bags. Out of his wits, he stood there in the middle of the bus, worried. As I looked at him, sorrow was scribbled all over his face, and I honestly sympathized with him.
Some where on the journey, the bus dropped off passengers. Walter took the opportunity, quickly grabbed his bags and jumped off the bus, not literately. I was looking at the side of his face as he stared at the on-coming direction of the road. I’m not sure if that was the destination Walter had in mind, or was he just looking out for other bus to hop on to.
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Through the rest of the journey I was pondering on this subject. I find that it is humane that people would sympathize with Walter, but the driver wasn’t doing anything wrong either. It was afterall a business, you have a job to do and you have to set an example. But then I was thinking, if I had the money to pay for the fares then why would I want to go through such shame?
I can’t help but relate Walter to other people of similar status, whom had went on TV. If Walter has a heart felt life story good enough for the media, would the driver make an exception of Walter? Would the public’s opinion of Walter changed dramatically and they would effortlessly help a man like him? What exactly is the position of the media for the public on such a subject?
If ever I was ganged by a group of hooligans on the bus and in need of assistance, I hope the passengers would put their rational behind and stand up for a stranger. Instead of ignoring the scene and blame it on ‘society’.
