There are many forms of public transportation that those of us who love the environment take advantage of. (Or those of us who don’t have a car. Either way). You can take the Front Runner, which is a modernized train, offering nice cozy chairs, two levels, bathrooms, and air-conditioning. There is also TRAX, which are older, have loud beepers that make your ear drums bleed when they go off announcing the doors are closing, and which has unspoken rules that everyone seems to consent to, which I will talk about at a later time. You have your busses, and occasional taxi, and at the University campus you have the shuttles which don’t have a scheduled time and it’s almost faster to just walk to class than wait for the shuttle. Then you also have hitch hiking! I have used all the above forms of transportation besides hitch hiking. I have never hitch hiked, but I suppose today I came as close to it as I ever will.
Seats on a Frontrunner
Occasionally the Front Runner is late. Well today it was more than late. It just didn’t come! Various people walked towards their cars to just drive or take the bus. A lady walked up to me and a second lady and said, “There are two trains stalled in Roy… It’s going to be a while.” Rats. I debated on taking the bus. But I have a fear of doing things by myself. What if I get lost? What if I don’t know what to do?! In all honesty I can just ask people and they’d be happy to help me, and I’m not afraid to talk to people. It’s more I’m too lazy to figure it out. So as I reluctantly started walking towards the bus stop wondering how I was going to figure out which stop to get off at, the second lady was walking next to me. She asked where I was headed, and I said the U. “Me, too,” she replied. “Come on, you can ride with me.”
Now, here’s where most people would stop and think about what was being asked. Or there’s me, where I do things without thinking if there’s no initial bad feeling. So I happily said, “Okay!” and followed her to her car, glad that I wouldn’t have to take the bus.
Before you start telling me how stupid I might be, hear me out. I have a natural thought process, for better or worse, which is anyone is nice until proven mean. I know you could say that about kidnappers and murderers but let’s face it; there’s far more guy kidnappers than girls. This lady was well dressed, waiting for the Front Runner, and seemed harmless enough. And I’m pretty sure I could put up a good fight if it came down to it. Plus, it’s not like she would have planned to kidnap me, and deliberately stopped the Front Runner from coming. Besides all that, I have something else. Call it good intuition or what you will, but I have never gone into something when I had a bad feeling about it. And if it was something that I shouldn’t have been doing, I would have a bad feeling. So, no bad feeling? Not wanting to ride the bus? Let’s get in your car!
We got in her van and drove to the TRAX station in Salt Lake, talking amiably on the way. She was getting her master’s degree in biology, and had five kids. I never would have guessed she had five children, she looked fairly young. But that’s normal in Utah.
I was very grateful for her offering me a ride. She didn’t have to, she had never seen me before. I see people doing kind deeds all the time and I’m so grateful for their example. Like yesterday, in a girl’s bathroom, there were paper towels everywhere because the garbage wasn’t in the room. A girl washed her hands, walked out, and dragged the garbage can back inside the bathroom. But I’m digressing…
I got to school with enough time to walk to class. Along my route to school, the shuttle was stopped. Perfect timing! I could hop on and sit in it instead of walking! BUT I was too lazy to get on… So I just kept walking. I don’t know what that says about me: I’m too lazy to get in a bus, so I walk instead? The shuttle takes just about as long to get to my class as just walking, I discovered. When the shuttle pulled in front of Kingsbury Hall, I counted fifty five steps before I reached it. I could have saved fifty five steps worth of time with the shuttle. Not worth it. I got exercise. 🙂
So, quite the adventure this morning. Get in the car with a complete stranger, drive to who knows where. It’s more scary now when I think about it than at the time. I do know, though, that if it had been something bad, I would have been scared from the beginning.
Another thing that just happened on my way home: I saw a blind man get out of the Front Runner. I am so impressed with blind people. Let’s face it, if I ever go blind I’m locking myself in my own house forever. But they go and walk around, cross busy streets, and LIVE LIFE! I wonder how I’m living my life when I see people like that. I mean I think my life is hard? They can’t even SEE how hard their lives are! But they still have a smile on their face. I’ll end with that today, and try to remember that if a blind person can cross busy streets, I can do anything I put my mind to.
