I have 99 problems, and being assaulted on the bus wasn't one of them
I got assaulted on the bus the other day. I was traveling from a work retreat to a work-related meeting in the mission. A disheveled man was pacing around the bus manically, but I didn't really pay much attention: just another day in San Francisco, I figured. Next thing I knew, a cup of water had been thrown in my face, and a flurry of punches were descending on my head. Thankfully, I had been taking some self defense classes which my friend in DSA offers, so I actually felt fairly prepared to handle the situation.
I covered my head with my forearms to keep my head safe. I remembered Volo telling us that forearms are strong for blocking punches, and I also remembered him telling us that if someone is trying to punch you you want to figure out where the punches are coming from and try to block the angle they are coming from well before they arrive on your skull. Once my head was covered, I made a point of pushing into my (lovely) assailant to close the angle between the two of us and keep him (them? Thank you San Francisco woke godessess) from being able to get any kind of full extension on their punches. I also hoped that by pushing in close to him I could knock him off balance somewhat without outright attacking him. Then, after maybe 10 seconds, I noticed that I was still getting punched, and it was kind of dumb to let that just continue. I took a deep breath, shoved him off of me as hard as I could, and then squared up in case he wanted to continue to fight. Thankfully, at that point he hopped off the bus, though not before grabbing my phone, which must have fallen out of my pocket.
Oddly enough, the incident did not bother me too much. I sustained only very very minor injuries -- very slight bruising -- and the physical pain was less than what I feel when I stub my toe or hit my head on an open cabinet (granted, those two things do hurt more than I would expect).
The funnier thing was how people responded. People's eyes go so wide when I mention that I was assaulted on the bus. But for me, it was by far one of the least traumatic and stressful things that had happened in the past three years. When you tell people someone threw some girly weak punches at you on the bus, and you blocked them fairly easily, their eyes go wide. When I tell people that I will need to spend the rest of my waking life working for a wage, selling my labor to a boss, and forking over 50% of my earnings to a landlord, people tell you to quit whining but maybe go see a shrink, and then get back to work. Stop complaining. Jesus Christ I would take getting assaulted on the bus any day over the traumas of living under capitalism. Needing to find a job so I don't starve and have a roof over my head, but needing that job to be decent enough that it doesn't make me want to kill myself -- all while watching my government perpetrate a genocide that is funded by my own tax dollars ... I'm like "Hey, dude who attacked me on the bus, can you come back over here, and just keep those punches coming, the distraction was almost welcome." (If you say that, people will REALLY tell you that you need to see a psychiatrist).
Anyway, I had a small bruise under my eye for a few days, and a bruise on my left calf for a little bit. The only part that was actually annoying was that it threw off my gym routine a little bit, which was an issue because my squatting routine is the only thing getting me through the challenges of this new job (which is cool in a lot of ways, but also fucking hard, and still selling my labor and time for a wage, which in case I did not mention, I'm not a fan of). I am kind of jumpy in public now, because now that I was attacked once I don't know when it could happen again. Though I do know that my landlord will collect my rent on the 1st.
Anyway, seems like I've survived (most of the way) through the second month at TUWU. Maybe the LORD who blessed Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and Vladimir Lenin, continue to show me grace and mercy. Free Palestine.
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