I Don't Have to Ride the Bus

I'm so grateful that I don't have to ride the bus. Does that sound elitist? I don't mean it to be. I know plenty of people who use the bus system, one in particular, on a regular basis. It's just not the mode of transport for me. Living in the city now, I see the masses of people waiting at decrepit bus stops, surrounded by strangers. And I've heard the horror stories. Female patrons getting luridly hit on, riders getting threatened with violence, and the ever-present chance that you'll have to sit next to some unsavory character, unsavory in ways that could fill a large list of unsavory characteristics.

I just managed to use the words "violence", "unsavory", "horror", and "luridly" in the first paragraph of an ostensibly positive article. Not such a stellar start. Let me try and salvage something useful from all this.

The scale of positive and negative shifts from person to person. What's great for me might not be for you. I love pesto pasta (eating it and saying it.) You might not. My sister and brother-in-law hate "Dude, Where's My Car." Think it's one of the worst, most vapid movies ever made. I...don't agree. Some of the entries Kate and I have made to this blog over the last couple months might not live in the "positives" category for other people.

So I don't want to ride the bus. Ever, if I can avoid it. Train? Awesome. Plane? Fine. Other people might not share my aversion to buses. Great. The mass-transit system needs riders to support it, and plenty of people need the buses. But I'm grateful that I can avoid some of the things in life that I find less than desirable, and hope that I find ways to fit in more of my preferred experiences. And I wish that for everyone. Life is only worth living if you can find ways to overshadow the perceived negatives with more positive influences. For yourself and everyone around you.

I know it's a positive thing that a mass transit system exists, and that it functions, relatively speaking, as well as it does. It has its flaws, but what doesn't?

And I'm glad to live in a country where I don't have to use it if I don't want to.

And I'm glad that puppies and kittens exist.

Did I pull this one out of the gutter?