Cher’s Soapbox Oration!!

[picture courtesy of avatel.wordpress.com]

I shall be stepping onto my soapbox during this post, and turning to a subject that I do not often write about, yet is in the forefront of my mind this morning.

Perhaps I should begin my conveying a little story about a recent occurrence.  I volunteer at a center for blind and low-vision folks.  It is a pleasure and an honor getting to know these amazing people.

Recently, one of these lovely people (who is also a friend) and I were standing at the bus stop after an afternoon at the center.  My friend told me I didn’t have to wait, but I insisted, as it gave us more time to chat!  My friend’s particular bus seemed to be running late, so it was quite a while before it arrived.  A large crowd had assembled, all wanting to get on this bus as well.  To my complete and utter disdain, many of these people motioned to push forward past my friend toward the bus doors.

Without thinking twice I loudly said, “Could you please wait until this person gets on the bus?” The next thing that happened was amazing.  My comment was met with looks of indignation, not by one person, but by many.

And now, my dissertation.  I felt anger, frustration, sadness, and confusion.  I am incredibly overwhelmed by this incident.  Why on earth would a collection of people, all sighted, feel in any way, shape, or form the entitlement to push past a person who cannot see and feel this is in some way acceptable.  For those of you dear souls that read my blog on a regular basis (and I am so grateful for that), perhaps you have come to know me in such a way that I adore kindness and abhor impertinence.  What I stand for is respect, equality, generosity, humanity, and gratitude.  To see my fellow human beings behave in such a way as they did on this occasion is, to me, inexcusable.  I understand people are busy, into their own little spheres of consciousness, and possibly egocentric dispositions.  Be that as it may, basic human decency supersedes all of that nonsense.

Clearly, there are those that are so off the mark of empathy that it will take a considerable amount of change for a shift to occur.  I am not implying that this is a broad-based circumstance in which the majority of individuals acts or finds themselves with an apathetic attitude toward others.  No, I merely wish to point out the observations I made, and in this case, the crude gestures of a number of individuals was too mind-boggling to be ignored.

As my dear husband so eloquently pointed out:  nothing is either all good or all bad.  Suffice it to say, I know he is correct.  However, when behavior such as that which I observed is so out of whack with common decency, I felt the necessity to write about it.

And so, my dear readers, I shall step off my little soapbox and wish you a wonderful, kind-filled, and thoughtful day!

[photo courtesy of pinterest.com]