<<This morning on the 129 bus to my office>>
I got on the bus in front of Dizengoff Center and sat on the bench at the rear. An older man sitting alone directly in front of me started to whisper to himself. Then his whispers became louder and suddenly he was shouting, really shouting, in Arabic.
But if one were to detach from the fear that hovers over us all these days, it would be obvious that the man is not dangerous but has a pathological problem (I’m not a diagnostician but it seemed he had something like Tourette’s Syndrome).
The passengers panicked and asked the driver to stop the bus.
She stops, approaches him with great humanity, asks him if he is okay and if he would like to come sit next to her.
Several passengers ask the driver to put the passenger off the bus, even though he’s not violent and not hurting anyone. He just shouts in Arabic, then weeps and then calms down.
The driver tells them they can get off if they are afraid, and she’ll even let them get off between stops. But she’s not putting that man off the bus. She approaches him once again and invites him to sit beside her if that will help him calm down.
Half the passengers get off the bus.
I approached the driver and asked her name. “Why?” she asked. “What did I do?” She thought I was going to lodge a complaint against her. I told her I wanted to write a letter of recommendation to the bus company about her humanity and her refusal to succumb to pressure.
And that’s the way today started. With hope.
P.S. In response to questions in the comment thread, her full name is Ruth Tehrani. She deserves to be praised, but given the sad reality of late I hope nothing bad will happen to her as a consequence of this post.