bus stop

One morning, waiting for the bus, I stood inside the bus shelter to avoid the wind. While I was standing there, an older man pulling an old suitcase piled high with all his worldly possessions walked up. It was early morning and I was half-asleep with my iPod on, so I just moved aside to give him space to stand out of the wind as well, but he did not come into the shelter. He stood outside and said to me, "You shouldn't stand in there. Sometimes the bus won't stop if you are in there. They just keep going because they think you are smoking dope."

I smiled and thanked him as we both got on the bus, grateful for his considerateness, but as I sat down I felt deeply sad, because I know that the bus will still stop for me, even if I am in the bus shelter. I am young and white and clean, and he is none of those.