the "bus" experience

I have been taking the bus recently and it has been fine. I put on my headphones and enter into my own world where I am chauffeured around town. Today was a little different. This guy got on a few stops after mine with a bag over his shoulder and a large bag in his hand. He sat down near me. This black man was in his 60’s with a gray and black speckled beard. He said, “If you had told me a year ago this would have happened I wouldn’t have believed you….” He trailed off and saw that he had my attention. In that moment I tried to decide if I wanted acknowledge that he had my attention… I decided, what the hell, and nodded. He went on to say that his wife had died about a year ago and he had been in and out of the hospital for cognitive heart failure. I was still trying to decide if he was crazy or just talkative. That is a blurry line on occasion. He continued to talk and told me that he was being treated for depression at the hospital and he was studying scriptures. I asked him what scriptures he studied and he said that he was a “Hebrewist.” I was not familiar with that so I asked him about it. He was very articulate and told me all about how the word usage of Christianity is flawed and gave such examples and that “Jesus” was not Jesus’ name. (it was yeshua). It sounded a little bit like messianic Judaism but he said it was different. He was adamant about the fact that he was not a Christian, Muslim, or jew. So, it was an interesting conversation….

Then I got onto the next bus and it was really quiet and almost empty for a while. And then this woman got on… and it was interesting. She kept smiling and saying something but I was too far away from her to hear her. So, I wondered about her. “is she crazy or just really happy?” Again, the line between the two can be a little foggy sometimes… but she got off a stop later so I never figured out what the deal was.

So… I like taking the bus but it can be interesting sometimes.