“One of my most interesting bus experiences was not bad; rather, it was fulfilling and entertaining.
Every day after my school bus drops me off at a stop, I cross the street and wait there for a public bus to take me home. One day, there was a man waiting there. Together we waited and waited and waited. Finally, I turned to the man and asked him what time it was. He was Hispanic, maybe in his 50s.
“It’s around 4:20.”
“Thanks,” I answered, “The bus is especially late today, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but it’s probably the traffic.” He smiles and pauses. “What school do you go to? I saw you leaving the bus.”
“North Hollywood.”
“Oh, that’s a little far. Why do you go there?”
Then I told him about the magnet program, and he said in that case, I was probably smart like his son and daughter, who were both at Berkeley.
We talked about computers
He asked me about my school curriculum and asked if I had access to computers. “Computers are vital these days, you know. To be computer illiterate is like having an orange and not being able to peel it. It’s the link to everything. Do you have the Internet?” I explained that my mom was worried about my obnoxious little brother having access to all the bad things on the Internet.
“No, no,” the man shook his head. “People must make choices in life, and so does your brother. Get the Internet. Your brother, being the age he is, is very curious. He will fool around with the program at first but once he realizes what sex is, for example, he’ll know, and he will not be curious anymore. But if he becomes more interested, that’s a different story. My point is that your mother should not make a decision for him, even though she is making it indirectly. It’s just life. There will always be the access to wrong substances, but the choice to take the access is up to the person.” Then he asked,” Do you go to church?”
“Sometimes,” I replied.
“Aah, well I’m not going to preach to you, but you should try to go more often. Regardless of what religion anyone is, having faith in some extraordinary thing is very helpful to one’s mind and soul.”
The bus came. We got on and continued talking.
“I’m Christian, I ask Jesus for help and most of the time I receive it. He is very good, very good.” He pauses.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
I replied that I had no idea whatsoever. “Ahh, well don’t you worry. God has given you a certain special gift and soon you will realize it. As for me, I’m a computer mechanic and I love that job. God has given me that gift. People say that anyone who wants to be something can if they practice. I disagree. Not every one can sing—some are born with better voices. Not every one can play baseball—some people don’t have ball-eye coordination.”
My bus stop approached and I stood to get off.
“Nice talking to you,” I said.
“Ahh, yes. God bless you. You look like my daughter, you know.” And he smiled. I smiled back, and got off.”