There is a man who rides the bus with his 2 children who I have been "studying" off and on since I started seeing him on the bus. One time I heard him telling his 9 yo girl, something to the effect of "so I beat the shit out of him until he was lying stunned on the bar floor!" (I felt so sad that these children have parents like this-but this is not all that different from the majority of the parenting I see)
The other night the man, 2 kids and a woman in her 40's boarded the bus. I was fairly certain she was the mother, even though she never looked away from her texting for nearly the entire bus trip. The father and the son have the saddest blue eyes I've seen "in my life". Neither parent ever smiled. The father kept correcting the girl, telling her she was too loud, but I didn't perceive it that way at all.
Anyhow, 2 young men about 20 board the bus, they are , I'm pretty sure, travellers, as opposed to official homeless, and one has a mandolin! They had made inquiry on which stop they should get off at. I told them they could get off at either one, they are equidistant, and that I will ring the bell.
The mother came out of her texting world and emphatically corrected me, taking over the directions and telling the boys that I am wrong, that one of the stops is a slightly longer walk. It turned out that the family LIVE at the hotel that the boys were looking for. That would certainly explain the depression I see in this family's eyes.
When the mother found out that the boys are travelling across country from Pennsylvania she said:
Woman: "You are making the biggest mistake of your life. You are going to be so sorry you left Pennsylvania. Mountain Town is a horrible horrible place and people are so horrible in the world/ it is too dangerous for you to be travelling!"
Young Man-"Much to the contrary we are meeting so many good people and we are having a wonderful time!"
(Oyy Veyy! First of all, does she honestly think the boys are going to turn around and go home because she has had such a hard life?)
The mom didn't hear me but I said to the boy: "That's crazy!" You have to do this. You can't stay home and live in fear because of what might happen! You could stay in a 2 block radius your whole life also and see just as many bad things!"
I gave them some hippie references to which they replied they would love. They just came from a Rainbow Gathering. I gave them:
http://www.ic.org/
and
http://www.thefec.org/
I don't know. I think it's a shame when parents have had a hard life, that they instill the misery in their kids, sharply decreasing their chances of being happy. But also I do know what a nightmare it is that this family of four are living in one room in one of the flea bag motels........................
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