I’m beginning to realize more and more of how culture is like a set of lenses, or glasses, that you look through in order to see the (your) world. For all my life there have been 3 categories of buses in my mind…all with distinct characteristics and purposes.
There’s the school bus, used for transporting students, or when the bus retires from that it ferries church people (again, mostly young students). There’s the charter bus, used for special events or going long distances, its made for the comfort of a long ride. And then there’s the public transportation bus, made for transporting masses of people. This is the way the world of buses worked in my mind.
When I arrived in Costa Rica, a funny thing happened in my mind when I observed the public transportation here. Every sort of bus is used in the public transiting of people here in San Jose. At first my mind wouldn’t accept this reality. I’d see a “school bus” go by and think “huh, those students are of all types of ages, interesting, I wonder where they are going at this time of day?” After seeing this several more times my mind kept on trying to figure it out, “maybe theres some sort of adult education institute they go to.” “Why do these buses stop at the bus stops? thats nice, the school buses stop at the bus stops too.”
When I finally figured out that these “school buses” were part of the normal public transit system a funny (or not so funny) thing occurred in my mind. “Thats so stupid, why would you use a ‘school bus’ for public transportation?” “They are obviously not as advanced in the area of public transportation as we are…how lowly to use ‘school buses’!” I had cultural arrogance! It just wouldn’t fit into my mental categories for how buses are supposed to work. ‘School buses’ are for school! Charter buses are for chartering! City buses are for public transportation! Did they not get the memo!
So I come to find out, now that I’ve used the public transportation system here, all buses move people pretty much the same way…they get people from point A to point B. Mental categories officially BUSTED! Much to my delight…i actually enjoy taking the ‘school bus’ downtown. Now the driving of these buses is an entirely different matter…I’ll leave that for another post (lets just say I’m not the only one who fears for their life at times while riding in one of these).
The wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round…no matter what country they are in.
Excellent example of how mental categories color our perceptions and interpretations!