To a middle class white Texan who has been blessed enough to live in a decent suburb and have my own car sense i was 16. Never did it cross my mind that I would need to use a bus one day. I mean let’s be real, I have only used the dart train in Dallas once in my life, and never have I been in a taxi. But let me just express to you that in India, we use the bus everyday 4 times a day. And there is no such thing as personal space. HA! Especially when the bus teller tries to make a game out of the ride and see how many people you can get in one bus. Let’s just say it’s about 60 people,10 chickens, 1 cow, 4 pigs, and 3 goats. ha!
ok so the animals don’t get on the bus, well I have seen a few chickens but nothing else.. 🙂
But, one day 2 of my teammates and I where headed home early. After we departed from the rest of our team we began the walk to the bus stop. As we borded our bus and waited for about 15 minutes for them to leave. We just sat and began to people watch. (favorite thing to do just fyi) We watched certain men and women get on and off the bus, but it was not until we actually started moving that I noticed the man sitting across from me. He kept looking around the bus, and I thought um ok weird! but it was not until about the 3rd stop when a group of little school girls got on the bus that he really stuck out to me. one girl stood in the middle of the aisle right in between the man and I. And as I started to talk with her, asking her name and trying to make her laugh with my monkey face, the strange man grabed her and pulled her into his lap. Now this is not ok, and normally I would have pulled her out of his lap and into mine so nothing could happen. But, a white woman in a different country does not have the same rights as in America. So my teammates and I just sat and askd Dad to keep her safe. Finally the stop for the girl to get off was coming up, so I see the little girl start to crawl out of the mans lap and right as she was about to reach the aisle I saw the mans hand reach and touch her in the no no place. My first reaction was anger,then very quickly it turned into having my heart broken for that little girl. In that moment is when I noticed how low people really are,and how crappy men can be.
That night as I shared the story with the rest of my team, and began to ask my leaders what is there for us to do in a situation like that? They could only say we will find out what rights we really have in that situation. Then Dad thought it would be great to answer me by saying, “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” proverbs31:8-9. Now I know what to do in that situation,and even though I may not have the same rights as in America, I will help the needy because my Dad is with me every step. 🙂
