On the bus

Last week, circumstances nudged me inside the Greenlink transit center and onto a Greenlink bus for the very first time. Six fares, four drivers and two routes later, here’s what I have to report:

1. Greenlink buses are clean, comfortable, on time, reasonably priced and conveniently scheduled.
2. Most Greenlink bus passengers appear to be unwell, handicapped, homeless or poor. Definitely not the cross section of society you’d expect to find riding mass transit in cities like New York or Chicago.

The man who sat across from me on Thursday, for example. I’d like to know his story. Vacant stare. Deformities. Built like a professional football player. Or the little woman whose face was buried in her bosom as she slept. Or the girl in the fast food uniform. Or the elderly couple counting their change.

Which brings me to the last items …

3.) We’re fortunate, my peers and I, to have good minds and sufficient means. Fortunate not to be mired in poverty or dead-end jobs.

4.) It’s good to be reminded of things.

(A version of this blog entry was published in the September 16 issue of The Greenville News.)