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One Day, on the X2 Bus
Dec. 17th, 2007 12:08 amWhen i lived in DC on Capitol Hill, i used the X2 bus a lot. The X2 travels from Minnesota Ave Metrorail Station East along Benning Rd to H St NE/NW to a terminus at Lafayette Park, in front of the White House. Here be a map of the route.
One typically hot and humid Summer's day, i was sitting across from a woman, each facing the aisle, in the forward part of the back section of the bus. At 13th St NW, a man got on the bus. People in the front grimaced as he passed, and opened windows. He went all the way to the back of the bus. More windows were opened, and all but the woman and i moved to the front. My eyes burned from the stench the man put off, and i was sitting 6 people-widths in front of him, as was she. She and i grimaced at each other, stealing occasional glances at the man, whose hair, despite the unclean clothes and the odor, was neatly dreaded, if not particularly clean. I was mostly holding my breath, breathing only when i had to; i think the same was true of the woman. He got off the bus at 16th St, much to all our relief. We kept the windows open to air out the bus.
Several people came back and asked the woman and i why we stayed back there with the man. We both replied because he was a human, and deserved a degree of dignity. They argued that he stunk, which we had to agree with. We did not know whether he knew it or not, but he is a human, who through whatever circumstance, was homeless. He was not threatening, only smelly, and with an odd, melancholy, yet distant, look in his eyes. So, we endured the stench because he deserved some dignity.
Faced with that again, i'd do it again, despite the burning in the eyes and lungs, and the stink in the nose.
One typically hot and humid Summer's day, i was sitting across from a woman, each facing the aisle, in the forward part of the back section of the bus. At 13th St NW, a man got on the bus. People in the front grimaced as he passed, and opened windows. He went all the way to the back of the bus. More windows were opened, and all but the woman and i moved to the front. My eyes burned from the stench the man put off, and i was sitting 6 people-widths in front of him, as was she. She and i grimaced at each other, stealing occasional glances at the man, whose hair, despite the unclean clothes and the odor, was neatly dreaded, if not particularly clean. I was mostly holding my breath, breathing only when i had to; i think the same was true of the woman. He got off the bus at 16th St, much to all our relief. We kept the windows open to air out the bus.
Several people came back and asked the woman and i why we stayed back there with the man. We both replied because he was a human, and deserved a degree of dignity. They argued that he stunk, which we had to agree with. We did not know whether he knew it or not, but he is a human, who through whatever circumstance, was homeless. He was not threatening, only smelly, and with an odd, melancholy, yet distant, look in his eyes. So, we endured the stench because he deserved some dignity.
Faced with that again, i'd do it again, despite the burning in the eyes and lungs, and the stink in the nose.
