Candice Stewart – Yaadinfo Contributor
I went on a public bus today. I went on a public JUTC bus like I have been doing for many years now. The JUTC aka “Chi – Chi” bus is a fleet of buses that travels throughout the Kingston Metropolitan Area and parts of St. Catherine. In any event, this piece of written work is to highlight to my readers how Jamaicans “stay bad” and “doh av ntn good bout dem” while travelling on the bus.
The experience of the “Chi-Chi bus” ranges from an over crowded bus, to the stench of passengers that either passed gas like Uncle Chester in Vastaman or their deodorant was worn out for the day, bawling babies, passengers discussing their business and other people’s business, to the chosen few who preach the gospel on the bus.
Today was a special day on the bus though. As I entered, only a few seats were waiting to be occupied and I was fortunate to fill one of these seats. As the bus left the Half Way Tree Transport Centre, more and more elderly, feeble bodied citizens of Jamaica climbed the steps to the bus and would you believe, almost everyone that was sitting were able bodied, “young” people who refused to even look up and offer the elderly folks a seat. Even the seats that are supposedly strategically placed at the front of the bus for the use of such elderly people had young ones in them.
I then decided to offer the seat I occupied to an elderly man as he looked as though he would have toppled over in a second. As I stood to give this man the seat, someone I travel with on a regular basis looked up at me and shook his head as if to say that I was a fool to offer the man the seat. I was peeved. Peeved because I thought he knew better and peeved because it was upsetting to see all the young people sitting and the folks who helped build this nation stand in the bus until they had reached their exit.
That occurrence made me conclude that Jamaican youngsters (male and female) are a set of very selfish individuals who apparently find it rather difficult to get up off their asses (asses, which by the way, hadn’t even done anything all day) to offer someone a seat. Other persons would have to beg for someone to offer a seat to the poor feeble bodies. The males just show that either chivalry is dead or they have no ounce of the term “gentleman” in their knowledge space. And the same goes for the females; they do a disservice to the meaning of “lady”.
I know that the excuse will be made that the youngsters are tired, but holy horse crap! Not one other person could have offered a seat to someone who needed it more? That is very bad, dismal even. Everything starts at home with the primary socializing agent, THE FAMILY. What is taught directly and indirectly is what is practised, and most of those persons in the bus just didn’t seem to know any better.
It needs to be fixed. We need a Jamaica where more selfless citizens live.
