Patience is a virtue. Of that there is no doubt. However, we seem to demand more patience from one group than another. The disadvantaged are forced to cultivate this virtue on a daily basis, whilst the rest of us fume at the inconvenience of a few minutes (seconds?) delay.
Whilst I applaud their stoicism, I do think that it is only fair that we share the burden more equally. We can all learn to be a little more gracious, tolerant and calm. We can all, I hope, work towards a society that makes the requirement for these qualities more evenly distributed.
On the buses
What prompted this post was a trip to town on Tuesday to get my hair cut. I took a taxi to the station, did my errands and thought, since it was an unusually fine day, that I would get a bus back. I love buses. They are always filled with interesting people and you get to watch the world go by in a very peaceful way.
It was a bit of risk. I’d been on my feet for quite a while, but I stubbornly didn’t want to waste a minute of sunshine.
So off I went to the nearest bus stop only to discover that it was not in use due to Lightning Fibre works digging up the road and pavements. No provision had been made for a temporary stop. When I asked one of the workmen, he just directed me to the next stop further along. It was no distance really – except when your legs are ceasing to work. I made it, smiled at the others waiting there and slumped against the wall.
Since I live on a main bus route, surely something would be along soon. There was no way I could make it back to the station and a taxi, so I waited. And waited. And waited.
After twenty minutes, the bus arrived. The couple standing by me, sweetly offered for me to get on first. I demurred; they had, after all, been waiting even longer. How lovely they were.
The bus demographic
The journey home was brief and uneventful. One lady was there with her grandson in a push chair and chattered away to him. She included the lady sitting next to me, who clearly was mobility impaired. Across the aisle was a student. And the couple I had been waiting with were clearly neither British nor wealthy.
Because buses are a wonderful cross-section of society. There are people like myself who choose public transport but many of the other occupants do not have that luxury. The majority of bus users fall into the category of the less privileged: the elderly, the disabled, the young and the less affluent. Whilst we may not fall into any of those categories now, it is worth remembering that we may in the future.
The bus I was on went to Uckfield. There is no longer a rail link and the town is nineteen miles away. My one mile trip to town cost £7 by taxi, so a return to Uckfield would be prohibitive to even the wealthiest commuter. The buses are not especially regular, so users learn to wait. Which they do and amazingly graciously.
Value for money
Currently, under a Government scheme, bus journeys only cost £2. It is wonderfully cheap and designed to encourage us to use public transport and is a practical response to the cost of living crisis. (It is also a great solution to excessive car emissions.)
Yet, very few of us take advantage of this. Our cars with their air conditioning and heated seats are far preferable to standing in the rain and waiting. We even curse the lights and road works which prolong our journey by mere minutes, though we are cosy and warm in our car bubble.
Image: Arteum-ro on Unsplash
Because we do not use these services, we are unaware of their shortcomings. People imagine that bus stops all have seats – they don’t – and equally few have any shelter whatsoever.
The snazzy apps that tell you time-tables and when buses are due to arrive are fabulous in principle but less than perfect in practice.
Perhaps you are wondering why I am even telling you this. The reason is that I firmly believe that when the more politically active amongst us actually experience what is like for those less fortunate, we are likely to act upon it.
The same applies to all public services: health, education, transport and housing – everything vital in our lives. When we can buy ourselves a better deal and a reduced waiting time, what others have to deal with may seem to have little consequence. But in a healthy society, everyone matters. There is no them, only us.
There is an election on the horizon where we can select the candidate we feel will most work to their constituents’ benefit. We can also practise patience as a daily discipline. Dealing graciously with life’s lemons can turn even the most miserable of occasions into something else entirely. I quickly forgot the time I had waited for the bus when a stranger showed me kindness. That gift is in all our hands.