Brothers

"I find, by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when one suffers, the other sympathizes"

Taking the bus from one side of town to the other, at 7.45 in the morning,wearing the same thing you wore last night and without a smidge of food in your stomach, just to make it to college on time, is a frightfully drawn out, boring and uncomfortable process. One often finds themselves self pitying, and in no mood to do anything other than moan.

This morning, I was in said position. I was tired, hungry, nautious, and certainly was not keeping an eye out for people to write my blog on. However, such an incredible case presented itself to me, that I feel I simply have to write about it. Even though I did not have my laptop (I barely had conciousness), and was not in my café of choice (I was on a rickety 122 going through Phibbsborough), my story that I am about to tell has (I think) complete relevance to my blog.

Two men. Two grown men. Very similar (almost (if not entirely) identical) in appearance, sitting three seats ahead of me on the bottom deck. One wheelchair. One walking stick. Both men seemed to be very close, sitting almost on top of eachother, heads pressed together in deep discussion, a blanket covering them from head to toe. Suddenly, the discussion became quite loud, and it transpired that this converstation was actually quite a vicous feud.

Roars echoed around the bus belonging to the two individuals. Threats of violence, accusations of theft, statements of disgust, all whirled around the bus like a hurricane. No body could escape the loud, abusive and slightly alien sounding booms of agression.

From what I could gather, both men felt they spent far too much time together. One man in particular said he couldn't even go to the bathroom without having to make sure it was OK with his companion. There were complaints of the lack of love in each of their lives, each one blaming the other in turn.

I couldn't quite figure out what on earth was keeping them from reaching the solution! Clearly if they both agreed that they were being suffocated by eachother, time apart would seem like the obvious antidote... yes?

I soon realised that, for some unfortunate people in life, the most obvious and (seemingly) easiest solution to their problems in the eyes of the general public, were actually nigh impossible and strenuously difficult.

A knarled hand reached out from under the tartan blanket, and pressed the stop button as we were driving into Harcourt Street. The two stood up in awkward union. The blanket fell. And I witnessed two brothers joined at the head attempting to get themselves together in time to get off the bus.

One brother helped his sibling into the wheelchair, bending down almost the full way. The wheelchair bound brother handed his companion the walking stick that had been on a seat. I watched as the two worked together to, not even get off the bus, but make their way to the door. I watched with fascination and admiration as the ramp was lowered down and they, with some difficulty, shuffled and wheeled off the bus.

I was instantly ashamed of my self pitying, resentful and grumbling self. Poor me, making my way to a good college, in minimum discomfort because I had just come back from a fun filled, eventful night on the town. No wonder the two passangers had such a passionate row in the middle of everybody. They had never had two minutes to themselves. Always with eachother.

I felt very sad getting off the bus, and it felt strange walking up the road to my college while simultaneously thinking of what it might be like to have to wheel myself instead, or bend nearly the full way over and shuffle along with a walking stick. I couldn't imagine it properly, the thought became quite sickening and upsetting.

This blog's purpose and aim is to explore every kind of human trait and characteristic available to me. I did not think I would be writing about such genuine courage or determination so early on in my posts, but if I were to ignore this story and try to find a more light hearted or easily relatable one, I don't think I would be doing my job properly as a future jounalist. The brothers reminded me how good nearly all of us have it, and how easy it is to forget because of work and stress.

"You remind me of a time,
When I'd feel so alive,
Do you remember that?
Do you remember that?"