Just yesterday morning, I witnessed a scene on the bus.
 Ten rowdy middle school boys (in their white shirts and blue trousers --- their uniforms) jumped on the bus where I was, chattering annoyingly loudly. Some of them were even smoking. Impolitely, they shouted at the bus driver to move on.
 The bus driver didn't budge. Instead, he sternly told them, "I'm not moving until all of you kids pay me first!"
 Grumbling, the boys quickly collected the fees for the bus driver. After that, the bus finally moved again until their next destination. When the boys finally got off, I felt strangely relieved. Finally, it was quiet again.
 Honestly, I didn't care much about the teenagers. I've been down their road before, when all you want to do is mostly have fun and just be as carefree as you please. However, I'm also well-aware that not all teenagers are that ignorant.
 But still, I could understand why the bus driver was tad upset and rather...prejudiced. There have been common cases in Jakarta about a group of students getting on and off the bus --- without paying. Yep, they even run off easily, giggling as if what they're doing is normal and...funny.
 Well, the moral of the story is pretty simple:
 Is it true that what we do in our everyday society here only represents ourselves as individuals --- and not more than that? That incident already gives us a crystal clear example. How a group of ignorant and irresponsible students have somehow caused an angry bus driver to easily judge/label all students as just the same. Imagine that.
 I also remember another simple example. You see, I must shamefully admit that most Indonesians are...slackers. Some people even playfully (and sometimes meanly) joke about us as the human time-stretchers, because we often --- and almost always --- show up late and literally get ourselves behind planned schedules. Work starts at eight and we show up at after ten. We always have our excuses. (In Jakarta, heavy traffic is always to blame.)
 I was genuinely surprised by my friend Mary Jo's reaction when I showed up way early to hang out with her one night. She'd said at six and that was when I came. Her comment was, "Wow, you're on time. I thought all Indonesians wouldn't show up on time."
 It's a sad thing that bad examples are more easily followed, just because we all still tend to think that it's okay, everybody else is doing it. If that is the case, then what about those who want to give the good ones to the community? Are they not (considered) part of "everybody" we are referring to? Are they not representatives enough?

 The Author