This is something I have to write about before I forget it. It is something I observed 65 minutes ago in bus 65.
Those who occasionally take bus 65 -or any other bus for that matter- probably have noticed the "gangsters" in the back of it. And by gangsters I don't refer to the money-making druglords such as Scarface, Corleone or Escobar; I'm talking about the wannabe-gangsters -loudly voiced, cracking jokes, clownish adolescents; "wangsters" is how 50 would call them.
Yet despite their unmistakable presence, they are actually able to generate fear among other passengers. Perhaps fear would be too much of a word to describe it, but whatever it may be is rooted in the fight-or-flight response.
Indeed, today I literally saw with my own eyes how the fight-or-flight response manifests itself in practice. When passengers got out of the bus, I noticed that almost all of them took the exit that was further away from where they sat or stood. I even saw one guy -sitting two meters away from the back-exit- walking all the way to the exit at the front of the bus.
WTF???
This guy literally sat one foot away from the back-exit, but chose to make a journey to the front-exit..
When I saw that happen, the dynamics of the 48 laws of power made sense to me in a way I could never imagine! If you think about it, it's so crazy... some punks in the back of the bus were able to make another person take a different route! A route he probably wouldn't take if those punks were absent. Could it be more obvious on which end of the fight-or-flight spectrum the friendly passenger found himself?
For this reason alone I chose to walk to the back-exit, for the sake of possible confrontation; for the sake of "fighting". Not that I'm aggressive or suicidal or anything, but every opportunity that arises to test my character -both physically and mentally- is an opportunity I am obliged -if not compelled- to take.
So as I was taking the journey toward the back-exit (I stood near the bus driver, so I actually passed by the front-exit), I could sense the release of adrenalin.
As the adrenalin was running through my entity and as I was preparing myself mentally for the possibility of physical combat, serenity fell upon me.. I was calm and energetic in the same time. I felt like Maximus before facing death at the Colosseum.
My moment of glory however, didn't last very long. In fact, those punks in the back of the bus didn't disturb or confront me at all! All that adrenalin was for nothing! I guess nothing is what it seems; those gangsters were minding their own business. And it doesn't matter whether that business involves drugs, making jokes or confronting others, the real lesson to be learned here is that it shouldn't affect you in any way!
Fear is what stops people from doing what they want. And what they want can be something major or something as insignificant as exiting the bus. Know this: there is nothing to fear in life. Nothing. Not even the end of it.
Life is what it is. Life is strange, but only because we fear it and keep our eyes turned from it. Men are men and life is life, and we must deal with them as they are; and if we want to change them, we must deal with them in the form in which they exist.
With love,
A.