Unfair Transit

Everyday I take a bus that runs between two areas of lower socio-economic status.  I pick up this bus in the downtown core of the city.  I get very upset every time I ride this bus because the type of bus they use is always very dirty, old and generally not in good repair.  When I ride buses to areas of a higher socio-economic status, the buses are always in very good condition.  When I ride the transit system I can really feel the disparity between the middle class and the working poor. I find this to be very unfair and saddening that our society would allow this oppressive behavior to continue.  Not only is the transit system practicing this oppressive behavior, but the drivers seem to be also treating people differently that ride buses from lower socio-economic areas.  In my experience I have found the drivers to be less friendly and sometimes even angry or rude when I ride buses from lower socio-economic areas as compared to buses I ride that go between higher socio-economic areas.  The perception that people from lower socio-economic area are always up to no good is what I believe is one of the factors that leads to the driver’s behavior. There are of course many other factors that could be contributing to the driver’s unfriendly behavior, it just seems convenient, that it happens more on buses in lower socio-economic areas. I get really angry when a driver is short with me because I showed my license instead of my bus pass, mistake happen and was immediately rectified.  This disrespectful behavior seems only to happen on the dirty run down buses used in lower socio-economic areas.  I feel sad that our society allows this to happen and that I am a part of this oppression. By not saying anything I was part of the problem, no more will I stay silent on this issue of equality.     

A Camel Too Many.

A few years back I was on a trip to Egypt to see among other things the Giza Pyramids.  On my second visit during the trip I was alone, so a child offered to take some pictures of me in front of some of the pyramids.  The child had me doing things that you normally would do while further away, like raising my arms to make it look like I was holding the pyramids in my hands.  It was cute, so I said nothing and went along with it.

After some time, 3 older children came over with a camel.  I knew they wanted me to ride and then would try to get me to pay a large amount of money.  I immediately said I did not want to ride.  These children were somewhere between 13-16 and were very tall.  They picked me up against my protests and put me on the camel and the before I knew it the camel was very high in the air.  The first child was taking pictures of me, when one of the older and larger children took the camera and starting taking photos of me as well.

The camel was lead away from the guards and behind a pyramids, where a very stern looking person said, "thats my camel".  I was then let off the camel and asked for 100.00 US.  I should have just walked away, but I felt bad, as they had rendered a service, even though it was unwanted. I offered the person 20.00 US and the person laughed and said "no, thats not enough".  I then very firmly told the person that twenty was all they were going to get, they could take it or I could go over and let the guard know what had happened.  The person got a very sour look on the face and took the money from my hand.

I then walked out to the main area and started my sight seeing again.  It was scary at the time, but looking back I can now laugh about this experience.
 

Hello world!!  Time and Space pretty awesome right?