Bear With Me, Kids

Last Updated on: 17th September 2013, 07:19 am

It should be noted before continuing to read this post, I am running on roughly 18 minutes of sleep… and those 18 minutes were on a commuter train… Let’s Go!

An odd little metaphore for life that I saw this morning that probably only occurs to those of us who are currently deprived of sleep, or those who have nothing better to do than to read more in to things that is really there. Since currently I fall in to both, I’ll share this with you.

This morning I was attempting to travel down town Toronto on a Go Train which in the mornings are just a mess due to all the commuters going back and forth to work.

To board the train, you have to go upstairs from the terminal on to a platform. On this particular day the train had stopped in a mannor to which right outside the doorway to the staircase to the platform was one of the doors to ONE of the cars on this train. As I walked on to the platform and looked on to the train and saw hundreds of people jammed in to this ONE car, most of them having no seats of course and having to stand. I decided this was not worth my aggrivation as, like I”ve already stated, I was running on NO sleep.

So I walked by the door knowing that there were probably more places to get on that wouldn’t involve me having to stand pressed against a large burly man that had not seen a stick of SpeedStick in 4 years and a woman screaming in to her cell phone “SELL! SELL DAMN YOU!”

I walked no more than FIFTEEN FEET to the VERY NEXT DOOR and got on. There SEVEN people in this car. I grabbed a seat comfortably on my own as I wasn’t in a particularly social mood and waited. As we waited for the train to leave I would periodically look out the window and watch more and more people pile in to that car because there was a door right there.

“How the hell is this a metaphore, you crazy cracker?” you’re probably asking. Well let me explain.

It took me a grand total of 19 seconds and 14 footsteps to go to the next door and get a comfortable seat and have an enjoyable ride to my destination. Those who saw an open door 9 inches from the stairs and nearly shit themselves over the convenience, conversely, all stood together in one large grumpy, frustrated, upset mob.

Those in life who are willing to do just the smallest bit more are those that seem to get through life happier. Was it really that hard to see that there was already more people in that car than it could handle and they were all upset about it. Was it that hard to walk to the next door which was no more than 15 feet away? Of course not. It was by no means any kind of inconvenience to take this very minimal amount of effort and walk to the next door, and I was rewarded with a seat by myself and a quiet ride while everyone who took the easiest possible solution were all granted the opportunity to surround themselves with their own kind and be as pissed off and frustrated as they’d like to be.

Those who consistantly do the very minimal but sometimes important little extra things seem to be the ones that get through life that much more enjoyably. We should probably all take a page from these people. This morning I took a page from their book, and I’m quite glad I did.

More later, after some coffee perhaps.

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