Good morning

So today, I walked to work. No, not the whole way from my house to Washington. I decided to make the trek from Union Station to my work. I sometimes do this, especially as the weather gets warmer or I am able to catch an earlier train. It's only about a mile and when the weather is nice, it's a pretty decent way to wake myself up after the lull of the train, or just get some fresh air and exercise. 

I typically walk along Massachusetts Avenue which is going through a lot of change and construction up at the 395 interchange. I write this post not because it has something to do with transit (it does, a little...) but because there's another reason I enjoy the walk to work when I do it.

Just past Union Station, if you exit to the west side of the station, along Mass. Ave. on the Postal Museum side of the street, there usually (if not always) sits a man greeting everyone who walks by. "Good morning, young lady. How you doing? Have a nice day!" And it's said with probably the biggest smile I've ever seen. He never asks for anything, he just wants to offer up his happy outlook of the day laid before us all. 

And you know, sometimes in life, it's easy to rush by, ignore the hello or questions from the folks you'll pass in any city setting, but when I make that walk from Union Station to my work down Mass. Ave., it makes my day to see him and hear his voice. And you know what else I've learned? I've learned that saying "Hi! Good morning. You too!" back makes him smile even bigger. 

Maybe one day I'll stop and ask his name, take his picture so you too can see his smile, or perhaps the anonymity of it is what makes it so pure and genuine. I wish we all, all the time, could stop and say hello back to whomever is speaking to us. I wish it weren't strange to do so, or our lives less hectic than just trying to rush along to the next thing on the schedule. 

Anyway, I write about this because even though I commute on mass public transit, and the mornings and evenings are typically fast-paced and hurried, that sometimes by getting to and from work this way, makes me, at least, stop and think about the larger picture of life and how we all operate in this world day to day. And the brightest spot of this continually spinning journey is sometimes just a simple "Good morning".