Making The Best of Things

For the last month of my job I took TRAX to work to save money on gas. TRAX is... well... an experience. There are people from all walks of life on TRAX. Usually I rode on TRAX with the business population and I would just get on, put my headphones in (without music playing) and read my book; nobody would bother me.

One day I had to take a later train into work because of a dentist appointment I had had that morning. TRAX was spacious that morning and filled mostly with college students, moms with little kids, high schoolers sluffing school (those shenanigans), and homeless people. As I picked a seat on an empty bench I noticed a homeless woman across the isle, who was texting on her phone, that only had her thumb and index finger on both hands. I thought to myself, "How sad, but don't stare" and then just sat down and started to read my book.

At a later stop a mom and her son (about 5 or 6 years old) got on the train and sat in a row in front of me. When the train started again the son looking around noticed the homeless woman. He immediately turned to his mom and said, "Mom! What's wrong with that lady's fingers?" The mom just ignored her son, maybe hopping he'd get distracted by something else.... but he didn't. He continued to ask over and over again, and not quietly at all, but the mom continued to ignore him.

Usually it would be natural for me to want to judge the mom for not saying anything to her son but this time I immediately put myself in the homeless woman's shoes and thought to myself, "What would I do in this situation?" and I decided that I would make the best of it and have a lot of fun. I would probably say something like, "My other fingers shriveled up because I didn't eat my vegetables" or "My fingers fell off every time I was disobedient."

It's easy to say that 's what I would do, when it's not really something I have to deal with but it was kind of an eye opener to me to make the best of the things that I have. Not in a settling type of fashion, just be grateful for what I have and continue to make life fun and enjoyable.