We Are All Individuals

Recently after my car had broken down, I was inclined to take the public transportation to my friend’s house for her bridal shower. I had not taken the bus is about two years. My friend’s bridal shower was a traditional Sri Lankan ceremony, so I was dressed in traditional attire. I had gotten on the bus and a just felt a rush of eyes on me. I had a feeling the people on the bus were not staring at how colorful my clothes were, but they had an apprehensive look towards me. At first I didn’t understand why everyone was staring at me. I just pretended as if I didn’t realize anything and sat myself down in the front of the bus. At the next stop, a young woman about in her 30’s got onto the bus. She stood right in front of me holding the pole. There were many seats in the back of the bus, but the front of the bus was full. Then the woman sitting across from me looks at me, and says “Why can’t you get up and give her your seat?” I was confused. The women standing in front of me was not an elderly women, not pregnant, not injured, not holding on to kids, she was fine. Why did the women across from me persist on me getting up when there were 3 other people sitting next to me? I just continued to sit down, after she had stated me to get up. She then turns to the person sitting next to her and says “These people come to our country and take out jobs and don’t have the common decency to get up and give there dam seats; how “these” people don’t even know how to speak English.”

I had become furious. I did not want to start a confrontation so I had kept quiet. But I thought to myself how ignorant that woman is. She was being prejudice towards me. Prejudice is an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts. The women sitting across from I was making negative assumptions