There was this gentleman on the bus today, homeless, covered in filth. We waited for the bus together, he asked me for time and I have it to him. The bus arrived and we boarded, taking our places by the front of the bus; he sat on a three person bench, a woman sitting to his right with a seat between them, and I standing beside them. This white man was sitting in front of him. Middle-aged, balding, morbidly obese with a heather grey sweater, stain and all. He had the gall to insult the homeless man by stating how bad his coat smelled; it needed to be washed, “Are you trying to kill us?!”

Usually I never hear the ignorant banter of the people I ride with seeing as my headphones are nestled in my ears, but today I geared because of a brief pause in some song. I removed my headphones and turned to this man, “Are you then suggesting sir that your overly fed self will volunteer to wash this gentleman’s clothes?” The man merely stared at me in shock. Here I was, barely 5”1’ Hispanic, clearly better off than most of tonight’s passengers, defending a homeless man. I asked the man again, “Well, are you?” The man huffed and proceeded to remove a cigarette from his pocket. I carried on as the bus arrived at the terminal, “See, this gentleman beside me will die a fulfilled life. One full of peace and completion. You, on the other hand, will die a slow and painful death courtesy of a combination of the following illnesses: obesity, diabetes, or cancer. You won’t be given a choice in the matter. For being a vengeful, asshole, you’ve been condemned to live a life full of hatred and pain.” I turned to the homeless man, smiled at him and walked off the bus.