on the bus 2

by Ashley...

I have my own experiences taking public transit on the poor side of Bloomington to go to the chyropractor a couple of times a week. The other day, I was sitting at a bus stop and this guy came and sat by me... kind of rough looking. After mentioning the weather we fell silent and I sat debating whether to try and talk with him a bit more or to just continue reading an article for class. Deciding that it would be a good thing to do since he seemed to want to talk, I decided to strike up a conversation again... Hard be it to find something to talk about though. My inquiry of where he was heading went no where... So I sat pondering what I could talk about and feeling kind of awkward that I could sit there sporting my IU shirt, knowing how different the direction my life was headed in compared to this guy's 9-5 job which probably didn't pay enough to let him afford a car. We were on the bus for very different reasons... I would probably earn enough one day to have a car while the bus was just a fact of life for him. I fell silent again racking my brain for a common topic to chat about... should it be that hard? The usual college banter about majors and such wouldn't work...
And then he spoke up. "Do you like art?" This was probably the last thing I expected him to say. And I felt ashamed... because this guy could humbly relate to others regardless of his life situation. I could tell from our conversation that he was someone that would probably thrive at college and I almost wished I could offer him my opportunity of going to college.
I haven't quite processed it yet but sitting at that bus stop I was disgusted with how hard it was to talk to others whose lives were so different and how I could actually talk to them out of sympathy and pity. Do they deserve that? This guy would go to the art gallery openings at IU and here I had the audacity to assume that we didn't have much in common. I have seen the community that the regular bus riders have created among themselves... greeting each other with a friendly hello every morning and discussing the local coming and goings... where I sit and complain about having to take a bus and when I do step on a bus, I sit there and zone out thinking about the million other things I have to do. Is what I have so much better?... Or are some people finding a beauty and community amidst the harsh, rawness of life that I am missing out on?