On the 11th anniversary of my father’s passing, I had a difficult time staying asleep so I decided to stop by the pier to catch the moon touching the water, but when I got there the fog consumed the moon before the sun could arrive. I did manage to stay long enough to watch the sky change colors since the sun was covered by the fog, I was able to witness the birds catching their morning flight stretching their wings as well. On the way back home while I was trying to connect to the next transit, I witness a girl dressed all in black with green hair talking to herself and yelling at bystanders crossing by. I didn’t think much of it until she slapped an older Latina on her right shoulder for no reason, I saw her immediately reaching into her bag ready to arm herself with mace and I walked up to her to say: “Are you okay? Stick by me and nothing will happen to you”. As we boarded the green-haired girl got on before us but nothing was said, I sat across from the Latina as she had her mace held tightly in her hand and I reminded her that nothing would happen to her. She started to tear up because she was scared about what happened to her, but she knew deep down that she was protected.
Not even two stops later the green-haired girl looked at me from afar and just started rambling about nonsense, as this was happening I did not say a word to her then she stood up to walk towards me. I stood up as well to protect the Latina, the only thing I said was to put away the mace. The green-haired girl started saying things like I don’t own her, something about the color of my skin, and that I’m not her father. As she’s saying all these things I remained silent as I stared at her, she hits me on my stomach with the palm of her hand and that was when the driver yelled at her to get out. That angered her even more so she spat at me because I somehow was the problem, as this exchange was happening I was still silent. As she got off, she pushed over a trash can and started screaming as if it was a roar. When we continued our route to head back to our destinations, the Latina asked me if I was okay and I said yes then she asked me if I was scared and I said no. When I looked around I saw everybody else look at me with a stunning face because I didn’t react to any of her remarks or actions, probably thinking if they should be more afraid of me because of how I managed to stay still. The lady cried to saying “God Bless You” about 4 times and saying “Thank You” before she departed, the driver called me to the front to ask if I was okay then asked: “How are you so calm?” I told him: “My problem is not her problem, whatever angst she had to bring it here to spread it to us and I wasn’t going to let her that to me or that lady.” He said that he wished he had my patience because anybody else would’ve knocked her out, I got off and napped when I got home so I could make it back to the pier to watch the sunset later that afternoon. I still had my guard up because I didn’t listen to music during my journey there and back, but I was able to watch and capture the sunset as I promised my father I would last year.
The truth is that I haven’t had a chance to finally get a grasp on the situation until I came to work the next morning, wondering if there was something wrong with me or if this was a sign of some kind of growth. I told a friend about this encounter and with a spooked look on their face they asked: “How did you stay still?” I stated that my father wouldn’t want that from me, I’m better than to let someone else trouble me like that. Especially after losing the ladies in my life by trying not to be combative like they were, this is the first time others understood how a castle can crumble on its own rather than knocking it down. With all that said, only one question still remains... Have I learned that much ever since I started practicing "the oath"?
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