Last week I was waiting to catch the 38 up to the office and there was a blind woman waiting at the stop who needed to get up to Larkin. When the bus arrived everyone else got on but out of instinct I waited to help the woman onto the bus. She struggled on the steps, but I finally got her situated and told the bus driver where to let her off. I didn’t really think much about what I had done so it surprised me when an older man came up to me and told me that he appreciated my gesture. I still don’t know what it was about this man, but he was very profound in his presence; I could see him being my grandfather the way he spoke to me. You could tell this stemmed from the fact that he saw himself in me and he often said, “When I was your age…”
While I never was able to catch his name, I know today is his 75th birthday so I figured I would mention him in my blog. We only spoke for about 10 minutes but he provided me with plenty of advice. “Don’t drink soda”
“Always kiss your mother before you leave the house”
“Don’t talk to strangers” (Exceedingly ironic)
“Sugar is a drug, and like all drugs, sugar is bad”
“Live to be my age and you will be impressed how the most trivial things become interesting”
“Your body needs milk—but milk is for babies, take a calcium supplement or something”
It was nice talking to talk to somebody on my commute, I think it is ridiculous that we all ride the same trains, sit next to the same people, and never talk to each other. Why can’t we just be a little more social on the train? Last night this guy sitting behind me engaged this one woman in a conversation about the book she was reading, she seemed almost shocked! I guess such a conversation was unprecedented to her.
Just a simple question—Why don’t all of us Caltrain riders engage in conversation?
