The first workout after time off for sickness is the best. I finally feel like my normal, productive self. Though surely I will be worse for it tomorrow, as delayed onset muscle soreness is especially acute when you exercise after some time off.
A coworker was regaling me with his horrible experience on the bus to work. There was a guy openly masturbating on the bus, yet no one was saying a word about it (I guess there weren’t obvious school-aged children on the bus). Everybody on the bus was content to pretend the problem away, until my coworker finally said something. Not because of any civic-minded heroism, but rather the masturbater was in his way of alighting.
And that, kids, is why you study hard, go to college, and get a high-paying job: to avoid having to take the bus. As a seven-year veteran of bus taking during my latter schooling years, I too have seen my share of blood and craziness on public transportation. And soon as I was able to drive for a commute, I never looked back.
It’s a sad referendum on our civic decline when bystanders simply by-stand. Nobody says anything, so long as the crazy doesn’t directly affect them. I don’t blame them one bit. In this country of second amendment freedom, you don’t want to risk personal injury by speaking out. We live and let live not because we condone, but in self preservation.
Because it should be the job of sworn-in police - paid for by our tax dollars - to handle a masturbater on the bus, or a delusional homeless person on a drug-fueled tirade. Even that social contract has deteriorated. The people on the bus with my coworker didn’t call 911; they know that nothing is going to be done about it. It seems we live in a time where civic nuisances are tolerated, so long as no blood is involved.
Apathy towards our civic duty is very dangerous. Things will collapse when a critical mass of people give up on doing what is right. When law-abiding citizens stop paying for bus fare because they see fare evaders go unpunished, that will be it.
Your turn.