Seeing compassion at its best...
The bus I was on was heading back toward downtown and well in between a couple of actual stops. A woman flagged the bus down and the driver stopped. She reached out her transfer ticket and he shook his head no and closed the door. It appeared the woman had been already having a bad day and did nothing to argue her case. She simply turned away and continued walking. All the passengers instantly got quiet. Not even a whisper. The driver, who had still not moved the bus was now sitting in traffic because the light had gone from green to red during the interaction with the woman. Before anyone could say a word or offer to pay for the woman to get a ride, which I was on my way to doing, the driver tapped his horn twice and she turned back to look at him. He motioned for her to come back and get on the bus. She got on every so quietly and sat down but was sniffling from crying. A man handed her a tissue, a woman patted her on the shoulder and the driver said that her ride was covered. The bus started rolling again and smiles and conversation started back up... but for that brief moment in time when the bus patrons all got quiet it truly felt like the world had stopped spinning and time had frozen. It was amazing how life came back to the bus when that woman was welcomed to join us afterall...
