The wheels of the bus in the shuk go round and round
Many of you will see from my profile information on the blog is that one of my jobs is as a care giver in the city of Jerusalem. Needless to say, my reasons for doing the work are varied. My Hebrew is not good. However, I also love the elderly. As a historian, I get to touch and explore their worlds. I have had a number of clients who were survivors of the Shoah, Palmach and Irgun veterans, and WWII vets of the US Army in Europe and in the Pacific. One of my vets father was a US Army Air Force Chaplain who blessed the Enola Gay before its mission to bomb Hiroshima. You will hear about him at another time. Their stories will stay with me as long as I live.
I need not tell you that I don’t like to see them treated rudely on the bus, especially when they are just trying to get around. They are frail and need consideration, something they frequently don’t get from both the Egged drivers and Jerusalem riders (Haredi and Secular) hell-bent on getting to their destinations. If I had a shekel for every time I literally had to become an elderly person’s advocate against one of these Cretins, I’d be rich.
I travel from job to job during the day care giving and cleaning. Cinderella currently has six jobs and may be getting a seventh. Last Sunday was one of those days. I was on the number 18 bus which stopped in the shuk area on Agrippas Street. As it took off, an elderly man maybe in his 70’s was trying to get into the handicapped seat. He had a cane and was not steady on his feet. As usual, the driver hits the gas like an Indianapolis 500 driver. The old man fell back and hit his head, knocking him nearly unconscious. He was in shock and could not speak for a moment due to the blow in the back of his head.
As I and two other passengers tended to him, the driver wanted to leave. My Hebrew is not good, but the other good Samaritan told the driver to call Hatzoleh or he would.
As we were waiting for the EMTs, a woman actually stepped over the man we were tending to. I was in such shock. After seeing so many outrages, I thought I had seen everything but this topped it all. My only reply was to call her an animal. To add to the situation, she had the chutzpah to hand her transit card over the man to have it swiped! She was expecting the bus to move.
Thank God, the man’s injuries weren’t worse. However, I think that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Or have there been a lot of other straws? I want to leave, but my kids are in the area with my ex. It is simply heartbreaking to live in a city with so many rude people.
This is not an exactly one the city’s best moments. In addition to the continual outrages of fires and property damage I see in Geulah, I guess misery will love company. This woman was secular.
Natalie Portman is an idiot on so many counts. She falls into bed with BDS and sides with our barbaric enemies. But on certain points like the treatment of the elderly and pedestrians by drivers in this city, I really wonder if we are that different from our cousins on the other side of the wall. I converted, so I come in from the outside. I am always told “how long have you been here” or “get used to it “ I am frequently told that that is just the way things are done here. When does someone just scream like Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet “a plague a both your houses.”
The above arguments are infantile. My response, go back to the Biblical Zoo. They might have an obedience school that speaks to your individual situation.
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