I boarded a BRT bus over the weekend and so did this young man & his blind brother. When the seats were all occupied, a standing passenger leaned on the blind boy who was sitting on his brothers lap in the bus and this raised eyebrows.

To my disgust, the passenger saw nothing wrong in his actions, claiming it was tight in the bus and so he didn't have an option & even picked a fight with the brother of the blind boy and whosoever was against him. It would have been better if this passenger was alone in his folly but to my dismay few passengers were on his side, saying 'after all its a public bus & we all paid the same fare'.

It turned into a heated arguement in the bus and while all this was going on, my gaze was on this poor boy, probably 11 or 12 years of age but there was no expression on his face.. None at all. I tried to imagine what must have been going through his mind and how he must have felt at that moment. Was this outright discrimination the norm in his world that he has grown up to accept as part of life? Or was he fed up with it but trying to contain his emotions? Yet, he was calm but moments after decorum was maintained in the bus, I noticed tears roll down this poor boys eyes. I had to fight tears from rolling down my eyes as well. It was very touching.

This is an appeal to those who have no regard to the less priviledged amongst us and show them no sympathy. Please have a change of heart as they have a lot to deal with already psychologically. If you cannot be of help to them in anyway possible, at least do not compound their woes.

And to that fellow in the bus that day. May God forgive you

It is well.

Gboliwe: It is well.

Amen