Perspectives

Today something happened on BART that happens as often as Halley's Comet make an appearance: I had a conversation with someone! The 5:01 train was unusually crowded, and as I sat next to a lady who actually smiles, I commented, "The train is really crowded this evening." Her response, well first let me tell you my thoughts. I look at commuting as a complete waste of my time and money. I could do a lot more my two hours and $200 plus dollars a month. I used to walk or roller blade to work in minutes...free of charge and lived a more interesting life with more personal time.
Her response, "Yes it is. I'm just so happy to have an hour of alone time." Alone time? If you know me, you know I find a great deal of BART passengers completely annoying! They're either listening to their headphones too loud, I guess they don't get the concept of headphones!, talking too loud on the telephones sharing too much information with the entire car, typing too loud, breathing on me, gross!, or taking the entire seat, smashing me up against the window. I find it anything but enjoyable. She then explained that it's the only time she gets to herself to read and sit down. Once home, she has to cook, clean and "deal with teenagers". I suggested she ride around on BART a little longer. We both laughed. She went back to her book and I went back to longing for my walking days.