It happened quickly; I never saw it coming. I saw the bus rolling toward me, but before I could get out of the way, I was thrown underneath.
According to the urban dictionary, the term means to denounce a friend, mentor or acquaintance for the sake of political expediency.
To be thrown under the bus is an out-of-body experience that we all will confront in our lives.
I tried screaming for help because the wheels were crushing my soul, but it kept moving.
As a recent victim of being thrown under bus, initially I was in shock.
I could not believe that people I had trusted did not only throw me under the bus, but were the drivers that backed up over me and kept it moving.
While working on school projects, serving on a church committee, applying for a promotion on the job or seeking the attention of a mutual love interest, everyone will feel the concrete on their backs and bus wheels on their chests, in this lifetime.
However, while lying on the cement, I took time to reflect and ask myself, “What could I have done to avoid this?”
We would sometimes like to think that we followed every step correctly, “dotted our ‘i’s’ and crossed our ‘t’s” as my grandmother says, but often we leave ourselves susceptible to the bus.
Working with a team we may have been late to a meeting or failed to attend an after-five event at or with the boss but those are the elements that lead us to the bus.
After I realized that maybe I was not pushed but nudged, I tried to remain cordial with the suspects as they “attempted” to help me from underneath the bus, but it was hard.
I knew that I would not leave someone out in the cold, destitute and under a bus.
I wanted revenge.
However, before I began my bad-mouthing, I called my mother who said, “I raised you better than that.”
Lying on the concrete the initial reaction is to raise hell, but I have found speaking it over with someone who has had a guiding hand in life, makes you think about your decisions before you do anything irrational.
Once I rolled from underneath the bus, brushed off the remnants of insecurity and blame and wiped off the smudges of sabotage, I realized that being under the bus almost broke me, but it didn’t kill me.
We should take those moments to not perpetuate the cycle of scapegoats or wreck to havoc, but to challenge ourselves to be better and to keep it moving.
And that’s the business.