I got up, as I saw an aged man walking in his walking chair approaching the bus stop. I offered him a seat. One lady on the right kept smoking while a man was busy with his iPhone.

“Thank you, but please don’t bother,” the old man said.

“It’s alright,” I said.

In a couple of minutes, the bus came. Everyone got up queueing for the bus. That old man kept sitting. I thought he wouldn’t take this bus. But then, he slowly got up and asked me.

“Is this the bus that goes to the shopping center?”

“Yes,” I replied.

I allowed him to go first into the bus while helping him getting on by lifting his walking chair. The bus was quite full, including the designated seats for elderly and disabled people, and expectant mother. To my surprise, none of them stood up and offered this old man a seat. Usually, I’d see someone will directly stand up and offer the designated people their rights (even, for instance, once I saw a man with tattoos did this). Some were just busy. Others pretended not to know.

An Asian lady in her 50s then stood up while offering the man a seat. She had her shopping trolley on the alley of the bus, though. She moved that and went to the back part near the back door of the bus.

“Oh, thank you, but please don’t bother,” said the old man.

“It’s alright, I would get off in the next few stops,” replied the lady.

After that man sat, I went to the back of the bus. At the very back seats, two teenagers played music with their iPod and an external speaker a bit loudly, while shaking their scooters noisily.

©mhsantosa (2012)
I am happy to share this. Please feel free to reblog or share the link, all with my accreditation. Thank you.