The car crash

StoryTelling is a project initiated by Melton Fellows to share short stories about people and their personal situations. The project team invites you to view the world through the eyes of our neighbours, creating a sense of emphathy, connection and mutual understanding.

“Eeeh!” yelled a grumpy faced man from the back of the bus that had just brake sharply. The bus stopped and nobody understood what was happening. Two minutes later, a rescuer appeared asking: “Is anybody hurt?” 

“Why should anyone of us be hurt?!” I thought. Until I realized: It wasn't a “jam on the brakes” situation, it was a car crash.

Ten minutes passed and the rescuer came twice more asking if anybody was hurt; we all answered laughing with a playful chorus of “No's”. But what happened with to driver who crashed into us?

I got off the bus and struggled with all my prejudices: what I saw was a (silly) teenage girl (cheerleader) who had just crashed (her daddy's) car (because she probobaly wasn't paying attention to the road). But in reality she was crying her eyes out. Seeing this helped me break through my wall of prejudice, letting in empathy.

"He is going to kill me! He is going to kill me," she said over and over again.

I told her, "He is not going to kill you, in fact he will be very happy because you are ok. You are ok and the car can be fixed." I stayed with her until her mom came and she calmed down.

How fast can we break through our wall of prejudice? And are these walls always bad?