Firstly, while riding on a bus headed into town, someone hurled a rock at a window towards the rear of the bus. It sounded like a bullet, the driver hesitated and, naturally, I felt quite scared and upset that someone would do that. Had we been travelling on an older-style bus (with regular glass windows), the rock no doubt would have launched right through the window and hit the passenger sitting beside it.
Secondly, following the rock incident, the driver stopped the bus and called the police to report the incident. The police told him that the passengers had to disembark and wait for the next bus while the police were on their way to investigate. A group sitting towards the back of the bus whined and harassed the driver as they were going to be late for whatever event they were headed to.
Thirdly, on another occasion, a schoolgirl made a racist slur under her breath that, had they heard it, would have offended just about half, if not all, the people on the bus.
Finally, while standing at the side of a road last night, waiting to cross, I turned to see a car suddenly swerve towards, then away from, me – if for no other reason than to scare the crap out of me. Following this incident, I got home and felt really down. I felt that people have no regard for each other and I started to harbour very negative thoughts. I felt helpless and sad for those who seek ways to torment others.
My boyfriend then said something that helped. “Ok, even if you tracked that kid’s car down and threw a tonne of bricks into his windscreen, his Dad would find the car in the morning and be very upset. He’d probably give someone else a hard time because he’d be so outraged. And the person he takes it out on might go and do the same to someone else. So the end result would be more unhappy people.”
This inspired a brainwave. If I woke up tomorrow morning, and was the nicest I have ever been, smiled at everyone I crossed paths with and just generally became, for lack of a more articulate expression, a beacon of light … that might set off a chain of goodness that stretches further than I could imagine. And then I thought of SuperForest. And how this is exactly what Jackson had in mind when he created it. To turn negatives into positives. Mission accomplished, dear friend.
Hugs to Daniel Gimenez for the pic.
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