You know, riding a Greyhound bus is perfect for this little project. I think I have a half dozen people that I met on my eight hour ride that I could talk about, and they’re some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met (for multiple reasons…). One lady that sat across the aisle from me narrated the ENTIRE trip. I’m not too sure who she was talking to intially, but before too long, others joined in, but I’m fairly certain she would’ve talked the whole time anyway. But alas, she is not the one that I will be writing about today.
I’m not exactly sure how much of Oswald’s story was true, but he was just looking for conversation. He sat down next to this one girl and talked to her for over an hour without a response from her. It was obvious he just wanted the conversation, so I leaned over and joined him and soon after that, the girl felt comfortable enough to join in as well. It was a fun time of stories and hearing about Oswald’s career and family and how he was headed to explore more opportunities. I honestly think he could’ve talked about himself for an entire month, and I wasn’t helping with all the questions. Just when I wanted to write Oswald off as a typical, self-centered, worldly man, something devasting happened.
Another women right beside me was obviously not from around here. She had three little kids with her that all looked sick and she couldn’t speak a word of English. She refused to join in on our conversation, but at one rest stop, we finally found out why she kept silent. Her “husband” had just blown up at her and dropped her in the middle of downtown LA with her three kids. She spent the previous night on the streets, but was able to get up enough money to get the tickets to go to her family in Texas. On top of all of this, she was in this country illegally and just keeping her head down and fingers crossed that no one would notice. Unfortunately, at this rest stop we ran into border patrol and her luck had run out.
While I was shocked to hear this story (after the fact, because I’m one of three people on a Greyhound that doesn’t speak Spanish) I was also paralyzed as to what to do. Oswald just jumped up, stood beside the family and gathered them up to take care of them. He walked with the family out, interpreting for them the whole time and just encouraging them. As soon as he saw the rest of the border patrol, he recognized one ofthe officers and was able to help the family out. While the border patrol had to do their job since they now knew she was illegal, they were also able to get her in touch with their family and work out the next steps so she wouldn’t have to be alone. I can’t imagine if she would have to face this alone with those three little ones.
I just asked Oswald why he did what he did. He just said, “We have to look out for each other.” I asked him if he meant Mexicans or who was “each other”. He said, “Well everyone. Sure she’s illegal and will have to go back to Mexico, but she doesn’t need to face it alone.” I was a little shocked by his response after revisiting the last four plus hours of communication, but something was in the heart of this man that I didn’t realize. When we talked about what makes him think like that, he just talked more about his story and how bad it was to be alone. He didn’t really want to talk about anything to do with religion, obviously because that’s what left him alone, but he finally wanted to hear me talk. I’m not too sure how much he heard, but I’m sure he was able to see a little different Gospel. I’m encouraged by his actions, but he’s still missing one huge point and it has nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with Jesus. I just want him to see that…
