This is the first in a series of transit diary entries detailing some of the strange things from public transportation. The first of these occurred a bit of time ago, but I’ve just started to document them briefly like I’ve wanted to do.
“Just Do It. That is what the Bible says,” stated the older-middle-aged woman on the train to the younger mother whose 3 year old little girl was sporting a yellow Nike t-shirt. The same woman had been leading the flock in the first car of my train for several stops. She was nice enough, and said hello to everyone getting on the train, telling them “Good morning” and asking everyone how their morning was. As the train got mid-way to the next stop, she would tell everyone which stop was coming up, except when she was occasionally interrupted by the train operator, who was giving the same information. The woman would reply afterward, “well, I guess she beat me to it.” The little bit of crazy didn’t start until we would actually come to a stop, and the woman would tell everyone “If ____ is your stop this is where you need to get off. Have a great day, and may God bless you real good. When you get to work, try giving your boss a big hug — maybe he [sic] will give you a bonus, and wouldn’t that be nice.”
As we approached the downtown area, she seemed to change her tone a bit. She began talking about how those who didn’t take Jesus as their savior were going to hell (although she still said so in her cheery tone and still said hello and goodbye to everyone), when there were enough people on the train at this point to guarantee some number of non-Christians. She ended up getting off at 5-points (the connection for east-west and north-south), but she got back on again before the doors closed and began her sermons again. I’m not sure if she didn’t like what she saw or what the deal was. I stepped off the train at the next stop, so I’m not sure how far north she went. I climbed upstairs to the office and searched for my boss to give him a hug, but he wasn’t in yet…and thus, I didn’t get that bonus.