Like I Was Crazy

Like I Was Crazy

Today, a street seller wrapped his arm around my neck as he was getting on the bus.

I screamed at him and threatened to get him arrested. He ignored me and went on selling his merchandise.

I was so angry, but people just stared at me like I was crazy. No one stepped in or said anything.

I got out my phone and took a picture of him.
“Enough already”, said a man who had apparently seen me taking the picture. “Have some mercy. He's just trying to make a living".

Then suddenly, everyone turned on me: all the elderly women on the bus started yelling at me, telling me to shut up, and the seller’s friend threatened to break my phone.

The seller finally got off, but not his friend.
“Look at how tight your pants are! Look at your bare arms!” he kept saying.
No one got up or defended me.

“There are no real men here”, I screamed. “If any of you were real men, you would have defended me! I had to stand up for myself because there were no men willing to do so”.

The people on the bus that day upset me more than the harasser himself.

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