[A Greyhound lost in a snowstorm; February, 2015]
Yesterday afternoon I took the #77 bus from Arlington center to Harvard Square, sitting on one of the front seats reserved for the elderly (I qualify.) Seated so close to the young, pretty driver, I got to watch her negotiate Massachusetts Avenue traffic and curb-side snowbanks that might impede her passengers’ getting on and getting off. I’d give her work performance an unqualified A+.
I also got to watch her interactions; how she welcomed passengers as if the bus were her own living room, how polite she was, how solicitous, how she created a climate of respect and kindness in that grubby, enclosed, metal, moving space. I noticed how, over and over, people responded to her warmth with surprise at first and then with gratitude, and how almost everyone getting off thanked her! After thanking her, myself, I exited reluctantly, not at all eager to rejoin the jostling, distracted and self-absorbed crowds.
The day before I had been at Suffolk County Superior Courthouse to support a friend—but wasn’t clear what time his case had been scheduled or which courtroom. But when I stepped inside a courtroom to see two older women—clerical/administrative workers I’m guessing by their clothing—in an otherwise empty courtroom, I sensed my search, in a multi-story building filled with tanned, briefcase-wielding lawyers and those caught up or lost in our nightmarish criminal justice system, had ended. Surely these women will help me, I thought. Sure enough, they stopped what they were doing to consult a computer which, once I’d supplied the right keywords, revealed where I was supposed to be and when.
And, yes, I thanked them, too.
Dear Patricia,
Hi, there, Patricia, my so, so very precious and dearest white sisterfriend! I am going to try again to get my longer reply to go through, sister, and I will For Always try and I will never ever give up, sister! What a great, inspiring, and very comforting blog post article in which you have so, so very graciously and generously composed, Patricia! This just goes to show that there is still great good in the world, and good people, like the very affable bus driver and the wonderful people who helped you at the courthouse. This inspiring blog post article, and these cool people you wrote about, sister, left me with such a good feeling, and with an ever increasing faith and hope in the great good inside and potential for humanity. I remember when I was a lot younger in the 1980s that I received a lower evaluation grade as a cashier in a convenience store because my manager said that I was “too nice to the customers-don’t say “hi,”, don’t say “have a nice day.” and I was also told to just take there money and to get them the ***** out!!!!!!!! How horrible this was, Patricia!!!!!! I, too, like you, sisterfriend, believe with all of my heart that in customer service as in life in general it is vitally important to be friendly, caring, and courteous to our other beautiful inside and out sisters and brothers who are children of our Good God Spirit, my friend. Patricia, thank-you so for this very astounding and inspiring blog post article, as well as your other brilliant and magnificent ones, my white sister!!!!!!
Precious white sister, you give me such eternally immense and immeasurable joy and blessings from your very Spirit-filled and soulful blog post articles. Reading your very fine and excellent words, and responding to these sagacious articles of yours gives me such joy and just makes my day, and makes my day even brighter, Patricia!!!!!! What an eternal blessing and a great joy you are to me, my precious white sister, and how you are as well to your other very grateful and appreciative readers, my dearest white sisterfriend, Patricia!!!!!! You are just For Always such a wondrously wonderful white woman and an anti-racist ally in your great allyship in solidarity, sister!!!!!! Please be so, so very incredibly and amazingly blessed, Patricia, in all of your days, sister!!!! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you For Always for being my so, so very precious and dearest white friend and sister, and my so steadfast and empowering white anti-racist ally, Patricia!!!!!! I love you so, so very much and cherish you For Always, Patricia, my sisterfriend Christian!!!!!!!
Very Warmly and Sincerely For Always, my white sister, Patricia, and Peace and Love For Always with Blessings and Even More Blessings To You, my white sisterfriend,
Your Christian lesbian black sisterfriend For Always in solidarity, Sherry Gordon
Sister, yay!!!!!!!! My longer reply went through!!!!!! Thank-you so, sisterfriend for all of your great help in this-you tried so hard to help me, Patricia, and I truly appreciate all of your excellent help!!!!!! Sister, I am going to go back to the earlier ones and as soon as I can get my longer replies in for those earlier ones, sister!!!!!! Yay, sister, yay, I am just so happy and thrilled that my longer reply went through okay!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!