On my way to work today, I witnessed something. Seated in a bus heading towards my destination, there was this elderly woman that sat next to me. Actually, it was rare seeing someone her age, entering these commercial rides, considering the nature of my environment. But it wasn’t really our business was it? We all sat doing whatever we wanted while the bus moved on.
During the trip, when it was time to pay, the rest of us made attempts to pass our fares to the driver, except this woman. She sat quietly, helping the people at the back pass their money forward when necessary but she didn’t pay hers. Seeing that she was seated between two people, I wanted to believe that she hadn’t brought out her own fare probably because there wasn’t enough space.
However, she reached her bus stop and announced to the driver that she was about to alight. She also reminded the driver that she hadn’t paid her transport fare yet. We all watched as she alighted, expecting her to dig into her bag and pay for it. Instead, she stretched out her hand towards the driver and said she didn’t have money.
We were all baffled by the card this woman played because normally, if people found themselves in situations where they couldn’t have paid their own fares, they usually informed the driver of their predicament before even making an attempt to board the bus. But in this case, she didn’t even bother. She proudly watched someone give up his seat for her, and sat till she reached her destination. The driver, just zoomed off the moment she informed him. No arguments, no insults, just a quiet speed off.
While some men at the back seat, discussed the driver’s patience, and how if they were in his shoes, they’d have dipped their hands into one of her bags, and taken something of value, I tried to make sense of what just happened. Was this the woman’s first time doing such or she’d done it countless times? Why was she so confident that the driver would let her go so easily in this Lagos? Was that her being dubious or she was just using her elderly age, to her advantage?
The driver’s reaction, was one I admired, even though that was exactly what I’d do if I were in his place. Because of what use was it, if he started a ruckus to extort money from the woman. The timing, the place, the person involved, all these were all wrong to have an altercation and I’m happy he smartly avoided that.
Before this had even happened, I’d considered paying the woman’s transport. I have no idea why I discarded that thought or something was probably telling me to wait to see what will happen eventually. And she shocked me. One thing this taught me was that not everything required a reaction, nor did everyone deserve the energy you put into them. This happened around 7am in the morning, and for someone like me, that regularly looks out for patterns, that would have signaled an unlucky day. Probably if he had reacted violently towards the woman, giving him a space among the countless irrational Lagos drivers, he could have gotten himself into worse trouble.
That was a really frustrating situation, but as a character from one of my favourite books will say, ‘it is crucial to know a lost battle the moment you see one’. I think that was what the driver applied in this situation and I was happy for him. Who knows what could have happened had he reacted otherwise?
Thanks for reading.
Image is mine.