Some much needed perspective

I saw something a few weeks ago that was so powerful that I haven’t been able to shake it from my mind. I was sitting at a stoplight in my air conditioned car, sipping my dark roast, listening to NPR and I was peeved. I was six blocks from my house and I realized I left my work ID at home. The oversight meant that I had to turn around, sit at three more stoplights, re-park my car, unlock the house, retrieve my ID and start my journey to work all over again.

Just as my frustration level crept higher, an old white bus crossed the intersection in front of me. The bus was covered in burnt orange rust, a color that matched the jumpsuits of the men inside it. As the bus passed by in what seemed like slow motion, I made eye contact with one of the passengers. The side of his face was pressed against the metal-shielded windows. He was trying to get as close as possible to the free world that was now out of his reach.

The image was almost cliché. It was out of a movie, and it made me feel tremendously lame. I was frustrated that my commute to work would be five minutes longer than normal while at the same time, a few feet away from me, a bus full of men were on their way to serve long bids in prison. They will be far from their families and likely won’t taste freedom for years. And there I was, in a fully functional automobile, headed to a job that I enjoy and I was thinking the fates were against me. It was a slap across the face, and helped me gain some much needed perspective.

I am grateful for my early morning encounter with the rusty jail bus. The next time I catch myself thinking of all the ways life is out to get me, I’ll conjure the image of the man with his face pressed against the glass. He will never know it, but he helped me realize how lucky I am to be leading this life.