With it being the end of the semester and the concluding of finals for college students, and the holidays quickly approaching, it's finally the opportunity for people to take a breath and relax. Many people, like myself, were beginning to travel home for the holidays. I was super excited to be traveling home, but not super excited to still have to wake up early to catch the bus to my flight. It wasn't a super early bus, it picked up at 8:15am, which for me isn't that early. But for others, especially those who were sleep deprived, it was too early.

It was about 19 degrees out and a bunch of us piled on the bus to be able to get one of the seats and get out of the cold. I was lucky to be able to make it on the first bus. I sat next down to a woman who looked to be 3 maybe 4 years older than me. We each had our backpacks on our laps and our carry-ons underneath our seats. As the bus started to pull away, everyone started to settle down into their seats preparing for the long drive to the airport. I put my headphones in and leaned my head on the back of my seat, letting out a sigh of relief.

About 15 or 20 minutes into the drive, I felt a light pressure on my left shoulder and then it went away. I thought it was just the woman next to me just accidentally bumping me while she was stretching or something, so I thought nothing of it. But a few moments later, I felt a slower continuous pressure on my shoulder, that relaxed and then remained on my shoulder.

The woman next to me had fallen asleep on this loud bus and chose my shoulder as the best pillow.

I was wearing a very thick and fluffy jacket so I could see the unconscious appeal towards it rather than the cold side of the bus. But still, this little act on her part caused me to freeze. The others on the bus that could also see what she was doing looked surprised and stared at me and her, mentally asking what I was going to do.

Looking back on it, there were a few things that I could've done: lightly tapped her shoulder and told her to get off my shoulder, positioned my body so she couldn't lay on my shoulder, or switched seats entirely. A few of those options are kind, others are not. But with all things considered. I sat there and let her lay on my shoulder the whole way to the airport; the whole hour and a half.

This little encounter taught me a few things that I wish to share with you. The first is the most obvious: patience. It takes a lot of patience to deal the actions of those that you don't know. But having patience and kindness can go a long way in helping you realize things about yourself and of other people.

If I had moved, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to see just how my heart is for other people. How you react to those that you don't know is a good indicator of how your heart is wired, and it shows to the other people around you as well, so they can learn too.

The second thing is understanding. Being in that situation, analyzing where my heart stood, allowed me to see where she was coming from. She could've been up all night recently with exams, stressed beyond all belief that she couldn't hold her head up any longer.

Having to sit still as to not wake her also got me to understand where others that were watching were coming from as well. A few looked at me with pity, other looked at her with disgust, and a few just shook their heads and didn't pay any attention.

People wear their hearts on their sleeve a lot more than they think, and when you are in a position where you can stop and see what they are thinking by their facial expressions and actions. It can be a clear indicator where other peoples hearts lie.

So from this little incident, I want you, the reader, to take away that although we may not initially understand the current actions of people, you can't judge their present self by first glance without further understanding.

People have pasts that we may not ever get to know, but by their actions in the present, we can catch a little glimpse of why they are the person that they are today. By taking the time to understand just where that person could be coming from you increase your awareness and care of other people by not judging them on just their actions alone as well.

The world needs more people to be more understanding of others. And I encourage you if someone falls asleep on your shoulder, let them be. Because you never know where they are coming from.