Hierarchy Of Sorrows
Okay, picture this. A man in a wheelchair is waiting at a bus stop. He boards the next bus to discover one too many elderly people sitting in the courtesy seats. Behind them are more elderly people and a pregnant woman sitting on the inside of a 2-person seat. The window seat next to her is empty and in the sun on a hot day and she’s wearing black. Waiting behind the wheelchair is a homeless man with an odor problem.
What should happen?
Ideally the pregnant lady would stand for a moment allowing the elderly lady the window seat thus freeing up the wheelchair area. The homeless but otherwise able bodied man should stand.
Here’s how it went down.
The homeless man jumped in front of the wheelchair and yelled at the pregnant woman to move over. She says the heat isn’t good for the baby. The homeless man says too bad, the elderly woman needs a seat to make room for the wheelchair. The pregnant woman moves into the sunny window seat and the homeless man seats down next to her! The old woman is forced to stand so the wheelchair can fit.
How can I fix this?
I go to the pregnant woman and offer her my seat further back on the bus in the shade and offer to help her to it. This WOULD have then freed up a seat for the elderly woman but the homeless man refused to let the pregnant woman get out. So, opting for the next best thing I helped the elderly woman to my former seat.
On his way out, AT THE VERY NEXT STOP, the homeless man asks me for a dollar.
I suggested he do something that, to my knowledge, is anatomically impossible. He kicked my foot in response.
