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Friday
Nov032006

jesus on the metra

a crowd

...on most work days, i take the metra train to and from my company out in lake forest. coming home, the train is usually so crowded that people who get on near the end of the line have to stand in the aisles and vestibules. yesterday, a young woman got on at the evanston davis street station. by this time, it was starting to feel like a can of sardines on the train, so she cheerfully asked a hispanic woman and her two young boys if she could squeeze in with them. they were sitting at the front of the car, where two seats face each other. she sat down next to the mom and faced the two little boys.

as soon as she was seated, this young woman began talking to the boys, who were bashful and somewhat puzzled at being paid attention to by a complete stranger. the younger boy didn't understand english too well, so his brother spoke for the both of them. for the next eight minutes until the boys and their mom got off @ the Rogers Park station, this young woman asked them all kinds of questions, like what they were for halloween, did they get a lot of candy, did they go to school, etc. etc. she didn't speak in an exaggerated high-pitched condescending voice like some adults do w/ kids. she spoke to them like they were her fellow human beings, and as deserving of attention and respect as her peers. she didn't ask questions just to ask questions. she actually listened to the answer and commented. in other words, she actually held a conversation with these boys.

puddle play

...i was amazed as i witnessed all this. these boys, who were around 3 and 7 years old, were usually somewhat loud and unruly, but this time they were polite and behaved beautifully for those eight minutes. i saw that their faces were lit up, esp. the older boy, who has probably been around long enough to have been ignored and belittled and barely tolerated by most unfamiliar adults.

as i walked home from the train station, i couldn't stop thinking about that woman and those boys. even though it was freezing outside, i felt a strange, sweet warm sensation inside, like i'd just partaken of a hot frothy latte from metropolis. i had a smile on my face, which is unusual for me by this time of evening when i'm normally pretty tired and grumpy.

and then it hit me, and it suddenly made sense. i had just seen JESUS on the metra, and he was a young woman wearing a diamond stud in her nose and gray and red striped textured tights on her legs. of course! jesus LOVES the little children! it's been his plan all along that the kingdom of god would belong to the smallest and weakest of them all!

holy skee-ball, batman!

...wow. sometimes, god likes to take the form of an old man to play skee ball on coney island, and sometimes he, or SHE, goes for a ride on the metra and talks to little kids. you just never know...

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    sarah-ji takes photos in chicago - Shutterbug Mama - jesus on the metra

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