Everyone on the bus yelled at a young boy who refused to give way to an older woman. However, the complaints died down minutes later after the bus driver stood up for him.
It was on a cold winter morning in Chicago, Illinois that a crowd of people boarded Timmy’s bus. Timmy, a chubby man in his forties, always greeted his passengers with a smile every time they boarded his bus, but today was different.
Due to the heavy snowfall that morning, almost everyone at the bus stop had rushed inside to avoid the cold, making the vehicle more crowded than ever.
Looking in the rear view mirror, Timmy could see how uncomfortable the situation was for some passengers. Their bodies brushed against each other, and those who hadn’t had a seat made a stern face at those who had had one.
Timmy drove a little faster despite the deep snow on the roads to spare passengers the discomfort of an inconvenient journey, and after 20 minutes he arrived at his first stop of the day.
As a few passengers disembarked, the bus, although still crowded, seemed to have more space. Timmy breathed a sigh of relief and continued on his way to the next stop of the day, hoping to arrive earlier. However, he was surprised to hear the passengers arguing.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with kids these days! How can they be so rude?” He heard a man complaining loudly.
Timmy immediately looked in the rear view mirror, but since there were so many passengers he couldn’t tell who was expressing his displeasure.
He initially ignored the complaint, thinking it was just a passing murmur caused by overcrowding, and continued driving. But then he heard another voice, this time a woman’s. “I wonder how his mother raised him. He doesn’t see that the poor woman is in trouble? She stayed up for so long!”
At that time, when Timmy looked in the mirror, he noticed a woman, probably in her twenties, standing next to an older woman and giving a stern look at a window seat. Timmy couldn’t see who she was looking at, as her gaze was fixed on the road.
However, when he looked in the mirror again, he noticed she was yelling at Jonathan, the 10-year-old boy who was a frequent passenger on her bus.
Jonathan sat quietly in his seat, his eyes wide open, staring intently at those who laughed at him. But the boy didn’t utter a single word, which further irritated the passengers.
“What’s wrong with you, boy?” the woman said. “Look at those big eyes staring at us! You don’t have good manners?
“I know it’s true,” one man added. “I hate that these kids don’t even have sympathy for old people. What a child without manners! That old woman has been standing there for so long, but look at that unsympathetic kid!”
“You are absolutely right!” Added a man next to him. “These days, parents give their children far too much freedom and don’t even teach them how to behave with the elderly.”
“Well,” the older woman finally spoke up. “I really feel sorry for the young children. I don’t mind standing there, but I’m struck by the way he listens to everything we say to him while pretending he doesn’t understand anything. It’s really unfortunate.”
It’s his parents’ fault, ma’am,” added the woman who had previously berated Jonathan. “If I were his mother, I would teach him right away how to treat the elderly! What a shameless kid!”
As Timmy drove further, these complaints never ended. Some laughed at Jonathan’s rudeness, others questioned his upbringing. But despite the insults, the young boy did not utter a word. He sat quietly in his seat, intimidated by the passengers and staring at him.
At one point, Timmy got so fed up with the voices of the passengers ridiculing the young boy, that he had to pull the brakes and come to a screeching halt. As the vehicle came to a stop, there was a sudden jerk, which temporarily ended the passengers’ complaints and directed them towards Timmy.
“What’s wrong with you?” threw a man at him. “Do you want to kill us all? You don’t know how to drive properly?
It’s such a weird day! I swear !” A woman added. “First the bus is packed like everything and then all that….”
“But it’s not my fault,” interrupted Timmy as he started the bus again. “You guys argued so hard I can’t concentrate on driving. And why are you yelling at that little boy to get him up? Maybe you could be a little more understanding with him.”
“You don’t have to defend him for his misdeeds,” the elderly woman continued. “Because of people like you, he’s going to keep being arrogant the way he is.”
“But ma’am…”
The older woman cut Timmy off before he could finish. “Keep your eyes on the road. At least learn to do your job properly.”
“I’m doing my duty, ma’am,” Timmy replied. “Maybe you could make yours too! You can’t pass judgment on this boy if you don’t know his whole story.”
The older woman had lost her temper at this point. “I’ll tell you, stop the bus right away! I’m leaving if that boy doesn’t get off the bus.”
Timmy said nothing in response to the elderly woman’s complaint. He continued driving until the second stop arrived, at which he slowly got up from his seat, grabbed a set of crutches from the passenger trunk, and walked over to Jonathan’s seat.
He smiled at the boy and waved in sign language that he had come to his stop. Jonathan smiled back at him and waved his thanks. He then exited the bus using his crutches.
After the boy left, Timmy turned to the older woman and told her the whole story.
“That boy is dumb and lame, ma’am. His mother is a distant relative. The boy travels in my bus almost every day. I know him well.”
After Timmy told the truth about the boy, all the passengers fell silent. “Oh my God!” exclaimed the elderly woman. “I am very sorry. I didn’t know that boy was mute. Do you know where his mother lives?” she asked Timmy. “I would like to apologize to her.”
“Of course Madam. And next time, please don’t judge someone just like that. I hope the others understand it too,” Timmy said, handing the woman a note that contained Jonathan’s address.
The elderly woman, who went by the name Felicia Smith, visited Jonathan and his mother the next day and learned that they were living a miserable life in a run-down two-bedroom apartment in a seedy Chicago neighborhood.
It also turned out that she had fled her abusive husband and did not have enough money to pay for Jonathan’s treatment. Doctors had said Jonathan could walk normally again, but that would require an expensive operation.
Felicia, who was previously a surgeon, contacted some of her doctor friends and set up an appointment for Jonathan. She also started a GoFundMe page to help mother and son financially.
Thanks to her help, Jonathan was able to be treated in a good hospital. Her mother, Anna, thanked her several times for being a savior in their lives by getting Jonathan treated and having her work as a janitor in a hospital.
However, Anna still doesn’t know what happened between Jonathan and Felicia on the bus. When Anna asked Felicia what convinced her to help them, she simply stated that she met Jonathan on the bus and learned his story from the driver, which motivated her to help the young boy. But the truth is that Felicia felt bad for judging the boy, so she decided to help him.
What can we learn from this story?
Learn to accept your mistakes and correct them. Felicia realized that she had been wrong in judging Jonathan and corrected her mistake by helping him and his mother.
Don’t jump to conclusions. Felicia and the other bus passengers judged Jonathan without knowing the full story.
