Which bus are you on?

I live within a block of two schools and just a few blocks
from another. Every day I see yellow school buses full of kids drive by my
house. The kids all have that look. You know which look I’m talking
about…probably the same look as commuters riding the NYC subway system or the
Metro in D.C, the T in Boston or the L in Chicago.

The look is always the same: I call it the look of the
tuna…heck, at least with “deer in the headlights” eyes you’ve got some good old
fear! These looks are dead pan, no expression. Eyes either staring into the
distance or nodding off to sleep—and why not? Today was just like yesterday and
tomorrow will be just like today. Not only is there no excitement or adventure,
there is little chance that there ever will be. This is an existence void of
surprise or delight…just the same ol’ same ol’.

Then today I was coming into my house from the car, when a
big chartered bus full of school kids drove by in front of the house. These
kids had a different look. They were obviously on their way to a field trip of
some kind and the attitude of the passengers was remarkably different. Kids
were glued to every window on the bus. Wonder was on every face. You
practically feel their sense of anticipation as to what might happen next.

Who knows where they were going. In fact, I’ll bet only a
handful of the kids knew the final destination. But who cared? The bus ride was
a thrill to this bunch. They were living every minute to the fullest. No
thought of tomorrow or next week. They were full of NOW.

“Cool seats! Wow! Every seat has its own reading light! I’ll
need to turn that on and off about 50 times! No seat belts! Look there’s even a
bathroom in the back…kinda gross but it’s still cool! Hey, I can lean the seat
back!”

Which bus do you find yourself riding? Maybe it’s time to
lose the look of the tuna, get on a different bus and start playing with the
reading light. Maybe it’s time to find something to get really excited about.
Maybe it’s time to start being more thrilled about stuff that’s going on right
now than stuff that might happen tomorrow or the next day.

It’s time to take the bus less traveled.