Judging the Judger

Is it wrong to judge someone who is being critical of someone else?

I take 2 buses on my way to work. The 37 picks me up in St Norbert and takes me down to Portage. There's a gaggle of women who always ride the 37 bus. About half a dozen of them. And they squawk all the way downtown while my foggy brain tries to remember how a sentence is supposed to be put together.

Well today a new person came on the bus. She looked disheveled. Hair hadn't been combed in days. Sweats were tattered. She wore one mitten. And her face looked worn. She made her way to a seat. A woman quickly moved her purse to that seat, hoping Newby would get the hint. She didn't. The lady took her purse back and sighed audibly. How dare someone take one of "their" seats?! The whole way downtown this woman complained in a loud whisper. I sat a few seats away, and I could hear most of what she said. She wrinkled her nose and complained about the woman's odor, her rudeness at taking the seat, and made other derogatory comments. She held a finger to her nose and said "maybe we should get off here and take the next bus". The new girl was either oblivious or pretending to be. She didn't react at all.

I did my best to shoot arrows at the pretentious woman with my eyes. Other seats in the bus were open. She could have moved. I wanted to remind of her of PUBLIC in the words Public Transportation. I wished she would get off the bus, like she threatened, be late for work, and be scolded for it. I could not believe that she could sit there obviously, audibly communicate how irritated she was at this inconvenience.

And if I could change one part of my day, I would have sat with the woman and offered her my mitts. My two mitts.