Bus Talk.

The brain is an amazing plethora of memories. A similar incident on the bus this morning sparked the revival of this memory that was long forgotten. 

I remember being young. Heck, what am I saying. I am still young. I meant young-er, much younger. 

During secondary school, I can’t quite remember why but I was on the bus with my good friend, Raecia. I’ve always had a loud voice and it gets a little more shrilly or high pitched especially when I get excited. So it was no surprise that I was excited chattering away with my Best Friend at 8-ish in the morning. Suddenly, in the midst of our conversation, a lady snapped at me to stop talking as I was disrupting the morning peace. She then continuously glared at us until she was sure we were going to stop our chatter. I was shocked and we remained hushed for the rest of the trip. Thankfully, it was a short one. I remember Raecia and myself being annoyed like, “Who does she think she is? She own the bus meh.” I mean, if she was really annoyed by our voices the least she could asked was for ya to quieten down. Maybe it was because I was young, or maybe because I didn’t want to start a fight - so I chose to remain quiet. I honestly have no idea what made her do that. 

Today, I boarded the bus and was glad to find it pretty empty and quiet - just what I needed. I had just got up and was making my way to the Doctors. But peace was disrupted when these two Chinese nationals board the bus and as usual, their loud voices resounded through the bus. It really didn’t help that they decided to sit right next to grumpy little me. And that their voices were entering my sound receivers above my music. I was so upset, then the memory came and I realised, but I have no rights to shut them up - just like what the lady did. Because this is a public space, and it wasn’t up to me to determine my surroundings - everyone had a right to it and it was their choice on how they wanted to act. Even if it was with inconsideration. 

Maybe I was inconsiderate back then. Or maybe the lady was having a grumpy morning. But anyway, we share spaces all the time. I guess it’s a little give and take - just like how I blasted the volume of my music in order to drown their voices out, instead of shushing them.