"Ridin' Along"
by Sarah Frazell
Quit driving and start taking public transportation.
A statement that usually takes on tones of increasing “green, sustainable” living to me also is a personal cry for diving into humanity exposed at the barest level.
Here in the Midwest in rural and suburban areas, public transportation isn’t much of an option. This may fit our character well; our stereotypical Midwestern penchant for behaving passive-aggressively coincides well with driving. Someone cuts us off, we’re having a bad day at work; we want to make political rants- we can do all of this in the privacy of our own car. No one will hear our “Screw you buddy” or “I’m moving to Canada if the bailout passes” but ourselves and our carpool buddies.
But on the bus or subway, it’s all out there for everyone to hear and respond and fight and clash, whether it’s two teenage girls fighting about who is hotter- Zac Efron or the Jonas brothers; or an escalating argument between two gang members.
I am so fascinated by public transportation that sometimes when I travel, I feel sad when I arrive to my destination. The most interesting of my travel experiences almost always occur on public transportation.
“Quit swearing on this bus! There are fuckin’ families in here!”, shouted by a frazzled older woman regarding two young men swearing on the back of the bus
“I’m gonna punch your teeth out…my lawyer gave me permission!” shouted a schizophrenic woman to my brother and I as sympathetic fellow bus riders shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders.
“You guys laughin about the projects? You ever see the Ninja Turtles? Blues Brothers….haha”, chuckled a newfound friend as my friends and I waited for the late night train in Chicago.
Another ride, I was informed of how to make lemon meringue pie at high elevations, after an elderly woman overheard me mention Denver, CO.
During my semester abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I loved getting on the subway everyday in anticipation of what would be sold that day; be it stickers of the Virgin Mary, flashing battery chargers, guides to the U.S. economy, or a knife set, complete with demonstration (one of the scarier moments of my life, as the ride was particularly choppy that afternoon..)
Sometimes I wonder if my love of public transportation is wrong or demeaning. Is it sick that my cheap entertainment is someone else’s mental, economic, or social reality or tragedy?
Still, I can’t help but recognize that the days I spend on public transportation help me see my smallness in the world and introduce me to people I don’t normally interact with. This little 15 minute microcosm serves as a reminder that the world is a big place.