Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Bug on a Bus
Today I learned to appreciate the fact that I spend most of my morning commutes bored, because an exciting commute is nothing but trouble.
This morning I witnessed a surprising display of teamwork and cooperation on my way to work. I was sitting on the bus, listening to a podcast and waiting to depart when I noticed a large, nasty-looking wasp on a man's shoulder. Immediately, I tensed up and made sure to keep my eyes on the pinky-sized terror, for if I could not see where it was I feared it would approach me and possibly land on my shoulder. The man soon noticed he was not alone in his seat and quickly brushed the creature away. From that point on, the wasp took to the air and got everyone's attention as it buzzed loudly and bumped along the surface of the closed windows in an attempt to get away. Unfortunately, it couldn't figure out to fly out the open bus door and it continued to fly back and forth, from window to window, forcing all the passengers to take cover when the wandering menace flew too close to their heads.
However, one courageous passenger took it upon herself to fight back. She had a makeshift weapon of sorts in a plastic fan and she used it to swat at the wasp whenever it approached her or another person. Despite several direct hits, each producing a loud SNAP as she struck the beast, her plastic fan simply didn't have enough mass to impact the wasp in any meaningful way. One salaryman on board had a newspaper he was reading, but the fact that he wanted to read the articles no doubt prevented him from embracing the paper's inherent bug-smashing powers, lest the front page be covered in wasp giblets.
At that point an amazing plan came into fruition. The lady with the fan had driven the wasp to the window where it was making a lot of angry noises. She smacked it with the fan and pinned it to the glass, then gestured to the salaryman with the newspaper to assist her. Wedged under the plastic, the wasp was no longer a threat to soil his paper with its innards. Seeing his opening, he walked over and delivered two solid strikes with the rolled up paper, silencing the insect that had panicked everyone on the bus. The woman holding the fan looked to another woman, one whom I don't think she even knew, and gestured again. This woman immediately responded by bringing over a pack of tissues, which the fan lady used to remove the splattered wasp from the window, as well as her fan. After a quick round of "thank you" and "sorry about that," everyone was back in their seat as if nothing had happened.
What do I make of this tale? On the one hand, we had a small insect fly inside a bus and frighten the comparatively giant-sized humans into a murderous act, one which required two of them to take out something a single bug. On the other hand, we have an impressive display of coordinated action, nearly all of it directed non-verbally, which quickly dealt with a situation that was making everybody on the bus uncomfortable.
Would this have unfolded the same way had it been in the United States? I suspect someone would have killed the wasp eventually, but there would have been a lot more shouting and it's unlikely anyone would have had a plastic fan, a newspaper or a packet of tissues handy. I can tell you that my response to the threat was to rush to my feet and look scared.
Sorry about that, America. I made all 300 million of us look like cowards.
This morning I witnessed a surprising display of teamwork and cooperation on my way to work. I was sitting on the bus, listening to a podcast and waiting to depart when I noticed a large, nasty-looking wasp on a man's shoulder. Immediately, I tensed up and made sure to keep my eyes on the pinky-sized terror, for if I could not see where it was I feared it would approach me and possibly land on my shoulder. The man soon noticed he was not alone in his seat and quickly brushed the creature away. From that point on, the wasp took to the air and got everyone's attention as it buzzed loudly and bumped along the surface of the closed windows in an attempt to get away. Unfortunately, it couldn't figure out to fly out the open bus door and it continued to fly back and forth, from window to window, forcing all the passengers to take cover when the wandering menace flew too close to their heads.
However, one courageous passenger took it upon herself to fight back. She had a makeshift weapon of sorts in a plastic fan and she used it to swat at the wasp whenever it approached her or another person. Despite several direct hits, each producing a loud SNAP as she struck the beast, her plastic fan simply didn't have enough mass to impact the wasp in any meaningful way. One salaryman on board had a newspaper he was reading, but the fact that he wanted to read the articles no doubt prevented him from embracing the paper's inherent bug-smashing powers, lest the front page be covered in wasp giblets.
At that point an amazing plan came into fruition. The lady with the fan had driven the wasp to the window where it was making a lot of angry noises. She smacked it with the fan and pinned it to the glass, then gestured to the salaryman with the newspaper to assist her. Wedged under the plastic, the wasp was no longer a threat to soil his paper with its innards. Seeing his opening, he walked over and delivered two solid strikes with the rolled up paper, silencing the insect that had panicked everyone on the bus. The woman holding the fan looked to another woman, one whom I don't think she even knew, and gestured again. This woman immediately responded by bringing over a pack of tissues, which the fan lady used to remove the splattered wasp from the window, as well as her fan. After a quick round of "thank you" and "sorry about that," everyone was back in their seat as if nothing had happened.
What do I make of this tale? On the one hand, we had a small insect fly inside a bus and frighten the comparatively giant-sized humans into a murderous act, one which required two of them to take out something a single bug. On the other hand, we have an impressive display of coordinated action, nearly all of it directed non-verbally, which quickly dealt with a situation that was making everybody on the bus uncomfortable.
Would this have unfolded the same way had it been in the United States? I suspect someone would have killed the wasp eventually, but there would have been a lot more shouting and it's unlikely anyone would have had a plastic fan, a newspaper or a packet of tissues handy. I can tell you that my response to the threat was to rush to my feet and look scared.
Sorry about that, America. I made all 300 million of us look like cowards.
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