At a traffic signal

It all happened a few years ago when I was heading home on my bike and I had to stop at a signal, it was a busy signal where the timer was on 180s, the longest you wait on a signal. I was looking here and there because there's nothing much that one has to do at a traffic signal but, apparently, that day was different.

A few seconds later a group of young boys stopped beside me, they must have been junior college students returning from their tuition classes from what it looked like. One of those boys gulped down a bottle of water and threw the empty bottle on the road when a dustbin was just beside him on the footpath. Something happened at that very moment that I just got off my bike picked up the bottle and threw it in the trashcan. I did not say anything to that boy or even looked at him but all the other people who looked at me doing this started clapping. I had goosebumps, my heart started pounding because it was not something that I had expected or wanted. I sure wanted to teach that boy a lesson but did not want to give him a lecture, because no one wants to pick an argument with a stranger.

I always had this fire in me where I could not take people who were ignorant of such small issues. That day, I felt that I had the courage to stand up for what I thought was wrong. It gave me a sense of existence that my actions affect more than just the people who know me, it also affected people who got my message without any words. This moment defined my personality as a more responsible citizen and made me realize that a small gesture like this made me a better person and may have made someone else too.