Out of the Ordinary

Scooter, Liz and I were in a bus this afternoon on our way into the city. Liz was sitting in the back and I was standing in the aisle just in front of here. I looked over and saw a boy looking at his phone, pointed in Liz’s direction, and then hear the “click” of the camera. I grabbed at his phone- “You can’t take a picture of my friend! What, is she the first white person you’ve ever seen? You’ve got to be kidding me, delete the picture.” He (obviously) wouldn’t give me his phone, but then from the other side of Liz an older woman said, “What do you think you’re doing? You don’t take pictures of people you don’t know. That’s not right. Delete it.” The young girl sitting between Liz and the boy watched as he deleted the picture, the whole time saying, “Why would you do that? You’re an idiot, taking a picture of someone you don’t know.” Meanwhile, a man standing next to me turns to everyone else on the bus and point out what this boy did. “He took a picture f this girl he doesn’t know. He’s obviously not educated. Why would someone do that? This isn’t a zoo, he’s an idiot. Can you believe him?” Everyone on the bus started shaking their heads and agreeing that the boy is an idiot. I could hear their side conversations also, about why would he do that and he really needs to learn respect and get an education. Next thing I know the boy called for a the next bus stop- I’m not sure if he actually wanted to get off at that stop or just wanted to get off the bus as fast as humanly possible before he was humiliated even more.


I was so thankful and impressed by how everyone on the bus stood up for us and reprimanded this boy (he was about 16 or 17 years old). People in this country are very nice, but typically will not stand up for other people, much less themselves. I am very impressed by how the situation was handled. Oh, and just after the boy got off and the man who was standing next to me sat down, a woman carrying a baby got on the bus and the man got up and offered her seat. Again, this is NOT typical. Very impressive and inspiring day.