Today was an excellent day. Kaley and I went to a place called the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) on a whim. The sun shone, and the train lazily rolled into Wakefield. We hopped on a bus and walked for half a mile through a neighbourhood populated by almost as many cows as people. Nestled in the midst of this lies scenery is the YSP - a couple of square miles of groomed parkland, dotted with artworks of varying degrees of grandeur and oddity.
I wanted to go to see the Andrew Goldworthy stuff. I had seen a photo of one of the pieces in a newspaper article, but the actual thing (it's called the 'leaf room') utterly astonished me. The other rooms (clay, wood, and stone) were equally breathtaking, each for their own reasons.
(It actually lies beyond my power to describe these installations, or how moving they are. I'd been lucky enough to see some other examples of his work in the National Scottish museum, so I knew I liked his work before I got there. The difference now? I LOVE him. And it's not so much about the works themselves - it's more a sense of how I want to conduct my life. I want to connect to things (real things) with the kind of directness that Goldsworthy accomplished and communicates with his work. Okay, now I'm gushing. Go find his work and see it live, whenever possible. You won't be disappointed.)
We made our way home a bit grudgingly, because Kaley had to work at 5:00pm at the local library. On my solitary trip home, with Kaley safely at work, I noticed a woman (we'll call her the Drunk Old Loud Lady, or DOLL for short) one seat ahead and across from me leaning into the couple sat in front of her, poking the young woman sitting there.
'That's odd," I thought, as the DOLL audibly said something about how everyone hates Chinese people (the DOLL's victim was of visible Asian descent). The elderly African gentleman sitting directly behind the DOLL and across from me reached out and tapped the DOLL on the shoulder in an effort to stop her from harassing the young woman.
"Paki!" the DOLL yelled at the man. "Don't touch me!"
(This is where I felt I had to step in.)
"Actually, I'M the Paki in this situation," I told the DOLL. I don't think she really got the joke, though. I then politely informed her that I was going to tell the driver to escort her from the bus. She dared me to try, and having nothing to lose, I stepped to the front of the bus and told the driver (who was very understanding) about the situation. When I turned to return to my seat, I saw the African gentleman being very un-gentlemanly. He had his hand around the DOLL's throat, and was forcing her back into her seat. I stepped in between them, and order was temporarily restored.
Of course, it WAS just after 5:00, and the bus is moving very slowly (the driver could only eject her at the next stop, and no earlier). Which gave the DOLL time to regroup, and begin yelling more racist obscenities. And the odd thing was, no one did anything. They were waiting for the driver to call in the cops. So I stood up again and said to the DOLL, "Let's just go now. You and me. Let's get off." And somewhat to my surprise, she agreed.
Of course, as soon as she got off, I hopped back on and signaled to the driver to shut the doors.
But not before she yelled "Paki!" one last time as we pulled away.
Turning back into the bus to regain my seat, I was greeted with applause. I raised my hands and let out a whoop.
Score one for the good guys.
(but i suppose she's still out there. which makes me a little sad.)
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2 comments:
Good job. She is still out there but at least for one day she was humiliated and potentially out a couple of bucks (since I'm assuming she had to pay to get on the bus).
Good job, bud. At least YOU did something, and others SAID something. There was a recent case in Japan (reported a long time after the fact) of a woman raped ON a train IN FRONT of everyone, and not a soul said a thing... they pretended to be asleep or reading books, etc. Yes, the woman was raped and crying right in front of everyone, and no one said a thing until the woman finally reported it, when some said, "Yes, yes... I was on that train... terrible thing that happened." But that's Japan; you see, it's been so long the case that, 'you don't disturb your neighbour's harmony' that now that people are disturbing their neighbours, no one knows what the hell to do. Let me give you a few examples:
1. When I first moved here, the person above me was an absolute nut. He would drop what I assumed were bricks on the floor at all hours, and play electric guitar at FULL BLAST in the wee hours of the morning. I put up with it for a week or so before I began pounding on his door and hitting the roof, to which he turned up the volume and, in one case, I found my door later kicked in. I then complained to the land-lady, and instead of offering to talk to him, she said, "Well, why don't you move to another room, it'll be quieter." Never mind the fact that my moving would actually require me to go to city hall, change info in my passport and 'gaijin card', change all of my billing information and have cable come (and pay, of course) to have them change the apartment, etc. I then said I would call the police and did, to which they nearly charged me because I didn't have my bike registered (they like to avoid the issues by pointing out things you might be in violation of yourself).
2. A friend of mine was suddenly and for no reason hit in the face with a motorcycle helmet, by some wacko, breaking said friend's jaw. Despite the pain he managed to ward off the next blow and knock the guy down. My friend was deported for hitting a Japanese, and the attacker was declared the victim and not charged.
3. People who often try to say something when an incident is underway are actually stabbed, or thrown in front of a train. The only time I ever stepped in when a guy was fighting with his girlfriend, said guy tried to punch me in the face (he was drunk, and I dodged easily). The train station manager ran over and separated things, but merely apologized to the drunk for the inconvenience. He did apologize to me too, but it was a kind of, "you know how these things go... just grin and bear it, eh?".
4. The entire time I was working in a public school, anytime there were bullying incidents they actually gave more grief to the person bullied, asking him/her, "What did you do to provoke the bully???!" They did sit the bully down and try to talk to him/her, but ultimately if the bully refuses they just send him/her off to class and continue to chide the person who has been beaten, in some cases, to a bloody pulp.
5. Suicides, as a result of such inaction, and violent crimes are through the roof due to police ignoring complaints, etc. Japan surpassed 30,000 people in suicides last year alone, and many were junior high kids who had been bullied and because no one did anything about it. Now the government is 'intent' on doing something, but unfortunately they've decided that instead of addressing the issue directly they are going to implement mandatory teacher testing every few years.
Okay, you get my point. Racism here is ever so subtle, but it exists. You don't often see people running around yelling racist explitives, but when they do no one has a clue how to reply. The constitution states that 'all people should be treated equally', but it is literally worded in Japanese to be, "All COUNTRY people..." as in, all Japanese. They refuse to reword it, saying foreign people are misinterpreting it.
They have an expression here, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down," and so in a way you are lucky where people are not at all penalized for standing up and sticking their necks out for the greater good.
Good for you!
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