I wrote this a few years ago when it seems I took the bus with a very recognizable individual. A great reminder on the darkest day of the year. Enjoy!

Santa Rides the Bus 364 days a year...

A couple of times a week, I'm out of my front door by 7:00 AM and walk a block to the nearest bus stop and wait for a bus that will take me to the Westmount station, where I will transfer to another bus that will bring me within walking distance to work. It's an authentic Urban Canadian experience.

I don't particularly like the bus, but I have found it to be a fairly "grounding" experience that I think has been healthy for me. One of the people I share a ride with is an older gentleman with a long white beard and a large belly that I'm sure shakes like a bowl full of jelly when he laughs. He is always dressed like a construction worker and carrying a large lunch box with a large steel thermos velcroed onto the side. I ride the bus with Santa Clause! He has a regular job! He gets up early in the morning, just like me. He takes a big lunch to work and trudges through the cold to catch a bus. That's fantastic! I have more respect for Santa every day.

I think Santa Clause is tremendous, and I think he is an almost iconic symbol of Good. Seeing Santa on the bus with me has been a great reminder and encouragement to me that there are good people all around me facing everyday challenges. Isolation is often our collective experience in our culture. Public transit has a way of breaking you out of isolationism. Taking the bus and sitting next to others on the way to work has been a reminder to me that we are often surrounded by good people trying to be reasonable and live out life as best as they can.

Believing good people surround you will help you take risks, speak honestly, and do the right thing. With Santa on the bus, I know that if an emergency broke out on the bus that required my intervention, I know that if I took action, Santa would probably lend me a hand. I recognize that the Santa example is silly, but I'm trying to remind myself that good people surround us, and it's worth putting the smartphone down once in a while to notice them.