There are so many reasons why mass transit, light rail and bus, are an essential part of a sustainable society. Obviously, a community that embraces this mode of transportation will greatly reduce their usage of fossil fuels, carbon emissions, congestion, etc. The quality of the air and water would increase tremendously and we would have a healthier, happier environment in which we call home. On top of these necessary benefits, however, I believe there to be an overlooked benefit that would positively affect the interactions of our communities. We would have to see one another.
If we all rode public transportation for our daily commuting needs, then we could no longer hide from the fact that we share our communities with a great diversity of human beings. In our personal motorized carriages, we have found a way to be delivered from doorstep to doorstep without acknowledging the fact that others even exist. On our way to work or even the store, we see mere geometric solids that rotate on wheeled apparatus that only prove to be potential obstacles along our route. We don’t see a face, only a menacing grill in our review mirror or frustrating and annoying tail lights through our windshield. People, however, are seemingly nonexistent.
By not interacting with a variety of others on a daily basis, it becomes much easier to remain ignorant about other ways of life. We ensure that our interactions only occur at home or at the office and chances are, that’s a very limited amount of variation of humanness. Like many species, we as humans perceive safety in the known. The unknown is often seen as unsafe and risky. We all know to take the bird in the hand because you may come up empty in the bush. It has been programed and reinforced for thousands, if not millions, of years that safety is in known quantities. By forcing ourselves to remain ignorant about the people in even our own communities, it just reinforces the fear of others.
The fear of others has caused many a military buildup in many civilizations throughout time. We’ve been afraid of communists, Muslims, Jews, atheists, bearded people, black people, brown people, yellow people, people that dress weird, people that have tattoos, or anything else that isn’t what we see on a daily basis. With all of this fear, there is no wonder why societies become war hungry. We are under threat by…by…well, whatever it is, it’s not what I know, so it must be unsafe.
If you have to sit by the bearded man on the bus, the brown person at the bus stop, or see the Muslim conducting the train, the tattooed girl holding the door for you, the atheist helping an elderly man off the train platform or any other “weird” person, you’re forced to at least acknowledge their existence as human beings. When we recognize that we live in a community with all sorts of interesting people, and yes, they are actual people, then we become less afraid. We may not agree with everything that we see out there, but at least we are more aware of people and therefore are less afraid. We recognize that we are actually all living in the same shared space…locally our communities and globally the world. No matter where we go, we are sharing the same planet, the same resources, and the same basic goals in life.
So yeah…go ahead and ride the bus. What is there to be afraid of?
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