Gentle Parameters

 It was a tense bus ride.  I had originally thought I could walk or take a tram within closely connected airport terminals. But at LaGiardia, B to C are not closely connected and the bus ride took thirty minutes. It wasn't that the distance was great. It was that I had to wait for the bus. The bus looped around through terminal A & B. The driver switched out at terminal A. Then we chugged onto the freeway again and exited into congested traffic. 

While waiting forever for the missing bus driver, I looked up and saw two men sitting in an area reserved for Seniors and disabled people. 

The men who were sitting looked to be neither. They shouldn't be sitting there. A few minutes later, I realized I too was sitting in the same spot on the opposite side of the bus. Was I taking a seat for the elderly and infirm too? 

I was afraid to look. 

Wanting to confirm my possible hypocrisy or not, I looked behind. Relieved, I wasn't sitting in a zone restricted for seniors and disabled. But hypocrisy didn't vanish because I was sitting in the right seat. That was coincidental. Lacking awareness and judging was the offense, and sitting in the correct seat didn't absolve me from the offense. 

But the offense was only to myself. I was the only one aware. That is a kind type of offense, when we can change within the gentle parameters of personal embarrassment. When I can change when only I know the reason. 

Gratitude.