The Wheels on the Bus Again

Have you ever had strange experiences that turned into revelations? This week I had the chance on a rather interesting bus ride. This time the drivers did not change in the middle of the shift, but the adventure was equally as entertaining.

On my way to deal with matters I decided to ride the bus. This bus has a driver and a ticket seller that stands near the door of the bus. The ticket sellers typical routine is to announce the stop around 200 meters from the bus stop, then again 50 meters from the bus stop and then finally around 10 meters from the bus stop. During the last official announcement of the stop the bus driver will often yell, “This is stop << Stop Name>> does anyone wish to get off here? If nobody will get off we will continue to drive.” This is because it is an express bus that prides itself on speed.

This day around the mid-point of the bus route, the bus came to its usual stop. The ticket seller announced the stop in his the 1-2-3-time sequence and no one got off the bus. A few seconds after the stop was passed, a passenger screamed, “Oh, I need to get off the bus.” The ticket person slightly irritated asked the passenger why they did not respond when he called the stop name out in the 3rd announcement. The passenger ignored him for the sake of not starting and argument and got off the bus.

Then at the next stop, the same exact thing happened once again. The stop was called and after passing the stop a passenger called to get off the bus. The ticket seller this time slightly more irritated made an announcement to the entire bus to please pay attention when the stops are being announced.

A few stops on the bus passed and again after passing the stop, 2 passengers yelled, we need to get off the bus. Having to deal with this issue a 3rd time the driver was very irritated. The 2 passengers were not only scolded by the driver, but the other passengers who were in a rush to arrive at their destination. The bus then drove around 20 meters pass the stop and opened the door to let the 2 passengers off. When the passengers got off the bus, they asked the bus driver, “Where are we? How do we return to the bus stop?”
The bus driver responded, “?????(Unlucky children), you just go back 20 METERS. YOU CAN SEE THE SIGN. IT IS RIGHT THERE!” The entire bus started laughing at these two passengers who asked what seemed to be a relatively silly question. Once the door closed the bus driver adding humor to the current situation stating, “Next trip I will buy a chalkboard to write the stop names so people won’t continue to miss their stops!”

This event caused me to not only be entertained, but also to think about if there was a deeper meaning. How often do we get on the bus of life and then pass the stop where we are told to get off at because we are not paying attention? In addition how many times do we get off this same bus and ask how to return to where we are supposed to go when “the sign” is right in front of our faces? Sometimes when we ask where to go with the answer being so obvious it may seem comical to others, but why do we ask this question? I have found that I don’t ask this question of how to go because I don’t see the sign (well sometimes I don’t see the sign), but because I am nervous. When we reach a point of uncertainty in our lives, the answer may be simple and obvious but we need that comfort from clarification. Luckily for us, we have a driver who is patient and kind. Who knows, if necessary on our next trip we may see a chalkboard with the stop written out for us!

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