A Gentleman From Shanghai

I know this is one of many themes I harp on about on this blog but cut me slack, please...I ride these damn buses every day.  Some bus drivers are great.  Most are okay.  And then there are the others.  Like the one today on the Forty-Ninth bus.  An elderly Asian man got on ahead of me, then I noticed the driver tapping his arm aggressively because he hadn't seen the man's fare, which he had already shown.  The gentleman showed him his transit pass, then I told the driver that he had just been inappropriate the way he touched him.  I went to sit down in front of the Asian man and mentioned to him that the driver had no business touching him like that.  He agreed with me then went over and bawled the driver out for being disrespectful.  The driver tried to argue and shout him down then I chimed in, "Driver, the passenger is right.  You touched him inappropriately and I am supporting him."  He did shut up, the gentleman returned to his seat and, excited, thanked me for encouraging him to stand up for himself.  We got into quite a conversation that went on for the three miles I was on the bus with him.  I guessed his age to be perhaps seventy or seventy-five.  He is from Shanghai and has lived in Vancouver for more than thirty years.  He has been back to visit but once.

He told me that people from Shanghai tend to be very straightforward and don't have much tolerance for crap.  We agreed about the importance of people treating each other with respect and good will.  We also talked about Hong Kong and how much has changed in China since Tiananmen Square.  We share the opinion that the Chinese government is going to have to listen and make compromises with the protestors in Hong Kong.  He added that at one time the communist government of China was like a man with a dog.  At one time he had the dog in his bedroom and he could kick and beat him at will.  Now the Chinese government is more like the man in the public courtyard and he can no longer beat his dog without everyone seeing and knowing about it.

I feel hugely privileged and enriched from this conversation and this reinforces to me the power of not shutting up, the importance of being open and supportive of others regardless of whether we know each other or not.  This gentleman from Shanghai and I might never see each other again, but this much I know.  We have each made a new friend.