Worst Mother of the Year...

And, the "Mother of the Year" award goes to...

A young woman on the bus had three children in tow, the oldest was about 3yrs old. All three were in various stages of meltdowns... They were screaming and kicking the back of my seat. I did not turn around. What good could come of appearing to place personal comfort above empathy?

I see self important folks like that all the time, and I don't wish to be them, but damn! I was in no mood. I normally take the express bus south; it takes the expressway while skipping over a couple miles of city stops. Frankly, the express bus has fewer passengers, and far less colorful, rowdy people.

From my stop across from the hospital I can see the expressway on-ramp. On four other occasions within the last 30 days (this day making the fifth), the driver has simply skipped my stop, and gotten on the expressway. I suspect only because bus routes are carefully monitored, the driver realizing her error has gotten off the expressway, and circled back to pick me up. While this made me wait in the sun for an extra fifteen minutes or so, it is the last express bus of the day going my, and I would have to walk the half mile to the bus hub downtown to take a regular route madness bus.

This day, again I watched the driver skip my stop. I waited twenty minutes in the blazing sun of 90°F heat, and then angrily walked downtown. Once there, I waited 35 minutes to board a packed bus of characters; a drunk lady with no bottom teeth trying to kiss a drunk dandy, several drained souls who clearly had had enough for one day, very loud people conversing about nothing, a teen with a giant mohawk and t-shirt which read "Straight Outta The Closet," a couple other teens visibly disturbed by that shirt, and of course, The Worst Mother of the year seated behind me.

I am sure that I bristled and stared out of the window. I may have tried to say a little prayer as the dandy in front of me tried to fend off a slobbery kiss. The kicking and screaming behind me caught my attention... It was then that the mother screamed at her children "If y'alls don't shut the fuck up, um gonna punch all y'alls... Dead. In. Yo. Shit!"

The entire bus seemed to gasp and look away. I imagine people were thinking "If that's what she has for her own children..."

I most certainly understand the results of poverty, early parenting, and a failed educational system, but those children don't stand a chance at anything other than replication of a life of misery. By children I included the 20 year old mother.