I feel bad.

Today I got on the bus to head home, and as always it was running late and packed with people. I ended up standing somewhere in the aisle in the middle of the bus. There was a old guy sitting next to a middle-aged woman, and he kept dropping his mobile phone on the ground. He looked old and worn down by life, his handlebar mustache was untrimmed, and his stubble covered more of his wrinkled face than your average person (I'm not one to complain because I'm like Homer Simpson: as soon as I shave, the stubble grows back in an hour. On the upside, no one sees wrinkles).

Anyways he looked really down on his luck and at the first stop he got off. I promptly took his seat. I started to notice a paper bag cutting into my side. I arrogantly assumed it was the middle-aged woman's - how rude of her I thought. She has a lap, why doesn't she use it instead of having it in my seat?

Some time went by and she eventually got up to get off. She left the bag behind, and despite my attitude about the whole thing I called out to her,

"Excuse me mam, but is this your bag?"

"No sir", she replied. "It belongs to that man who got off earlier. I guess he must have forgotten it."

I felt like abject shit. So much so because of my thoughts and conclusions about the situation were grossly wrong.

But wait, there's more!

I took a look inside the bag. Inside was a container of milk, and some packages of candy, one box of which was just opened. Now I felt bad. The guy had left some time ago, and probably got home all upset and pissed that he forgot his grocery bag. On top of that, it wasn't even bought at a grocery store, but rather a pharmacy, which somehow makes it even more depressing.

I couldn't hide the shame I felt.

When my stop came up, I took the bag up to the driver, but he said that he couldn't take and that it would likely get thrown out. So I took it home.

Now for the worst part.

When I got home, I put the milk in the fridge and showed the rest to my wife. Inside the bag was the receipt - he had paid with food stamps.

How awful I feel to this very moment - if only I wasn't so arrogant and more alert, this guy wouldn't be out all that he spent on some milk and some candies.

It just goes to show - be observant and alert. If you don't, you're likely to make bad decisions and worse not even be aware of it.