A Saint on a Bus

Saints seem to come in all shapes and sizes. They don't have to be a thing of the past. If you open your eyes to them, they are all around. And sometimes they appear on the bus.

I was in San Francisco recently. After a long day of walking on the beach and in the Golden Gate Park, I caught a bus to go back to my hostel. A few stops after I got on, a short man with a dirty backpack—he looked like he was probably homeless—entered the bus. He looked around a bit, then sat down in the seat right across from me. Almost immediately he began to speak loudly, almost shouting, to no one in particular, "I am the real American." He spoke with an accent—and you could tell he'd been drinking— and looked like he was from Mexico or South America. In my mind, after the initial judgment that there are no real Americans which made me feel disconnected from this man, I thought, "I can actually agree with this."

He went on, "I'm looking forward to when God takes me home," and, "This world is forever," and "We are all brothers." While this was going on, people on the bus were either ignoring him or ridiculing him. I'm not sure how or why, but my mind was completely relaxed. I kept looking at him whenever he'd glance in my direction, which he initially looked suspicious of, probably because that's a bit unusual.

He kept talking and the more I was looking at him, the more he was directing his commentary towards me. I smiled and kept looking at him when he'd glance in my direction. I think he found this quite curious and he started to get very happy. He was smiling and laughing.

When it was his time to get off the bus, he thanked me and told me to have a blessed day. I told him to have the same and we touched hands briefly.

The whole time throughout the interaction, my mind simply felt quiet. The whole encounter felt so ordinary in a way, simple—not at all extraordinary... like this was the way things should always feel. My heart, without effort or trying or making a decision to be present with the situation, wanted to be still and happy. I looked at this man and just felt, “You’re lovable.” It was involuntary and quite wondrous!

When he got off, I smiled to myself and thought, "This was a saint."

#moderndaysaints #miracle #connection #wondrous #youarelove #saints