"Strangers on a Bus" by Claire Dahee K. really got me thinking.  It's about a white man publicly calling out an innocent Muslim young lady and her family for being terrorists.  The girl was just on the bus, waiting to reach her destination and this man just started yelling at her for no apparent reason.  Claire wanted to say something to the man, tell him that what he was doing was wrong, but she was so scared.  She didn't know what this man would do to her and she was in a very uncomfortable situation.  She ended up not saying anything to the man, and the fact that she didn't, stayed in her heaad all day.  She felt terrible and guilty because she had the chance to help someone, but she didn't.  It's scary to stand up to a raging stranger, you never really know what will happen if you do, but then again, you know what will happen if you don't.  The target of the bully will end up getting hurt, in this case mentally.  I really liked Claire's writing and what she had to say, it got me thinking what would happen if more people stood up to bullies.

Racism is a terrible thing and it kills me to hear what Claire had to witness.  I can't relate to it because I have never been in that type of situation before, but I can understand where Claire is coming from.  These days many people show racism against Muslims and it's such a sin to call them and their family terrorists.  Some people have no respect for others and their religion and it breaks my heart hearing about what Claire had to witness.  The sentence that really stood out to me and made me think was: "As I lay in bed that night, I wondered: what good are our morals if we don't act on them?"  I always tell myself and others that if I was in a situation like Claire, I would stand up for the person getting bullied, but when I'm actually in a situation like that, will fear overtake me?  Will I be strong enough to tell someone to stop or will I hide behind the person next to me?  I like to believe that one day I will help someone who really needs it.