Where Have I Been?

Hope the title of this entry gets you to read the rest. I titled it that way because after this week of riding the Corvallis Transit System (city bus) and the Linn-Benton Loop bus, I have realize how out of touch I have been with what's really going on at the street-level in my community.

I catch the city bus near the Aquatic Center at 9:05 every morning. On that bus I have encountered several different people who have a (disorder?) that I don't know how to label. But generally, they tend to talk to themselves and repeat the same phrase, over and over. Things like "business plan, business plan, business plan" and my personal favorite "holy hat-rack, holy hat-rack, holy hat-rack."

I am not making fun, but I've led such an isolated life just going back and forth to HP and the grocery store and church, that I haven't really experienced the daily life of the city.

Every day I have had a unique and interesting experience watching and listening to the people I come across riding the bus. It started out as a necessity; riding the bus because I don't have a car now. But I realized that this is a way for me to really begin to see the world as it is, and to learn care and compassion for those who are different from me. There are a lot of sick, hurting people in my town, and I want to be able to help them.

I have also been getting a lot of exercise lately too. I swim a mile every morning now before catching the bus, and I do a lot of walking. It feels really good.