Life moving

Today I had experience I haven’t felt in a long time; a life soundtrack.

I recently started a new job in downtown Seattle and I am commuting on the 33 bus from the Magnolia neighborhood.  I am on my third week at this job and this commute and for all intensive  purposes both have been uneventful, which I guess is a good thing.

Today I queued up “Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever” on the iPod touch for the commute.  Turns out uneventful events can be brought to life.

It is amazing what an album like that can do to your emotions and thoughts.  I felt connected to people and the city in a way I haven’t felt yet.  Somehow today I noticed things I had obviously overlooked for weeks.  Somehow today I was more reflective than most mornings.

I noticed that a regular rider didn’t get on this morning.  Where was she?  Is she sick?  Did she miss her bus?  Is she taking the day off.  Whatever the reason today she is not following her normal routine.  It’s nice to break the routine.

I noticed a few new folks on the bus.  They looked every bit as uncomfortable as I felt my first few rides.  The trek down the bus aisle searching for the optimal place to sit.  I felt like I should say something, help direct them.  I had an advantage after all.  I had been on the bus for several stops by now and knew the layout.  I felt like a voyeur watching them experience a mini panic attack in the few seconds it took them to find their place.

As we crossed over the Magnolia bridge into the city I saw a new perspective of the city and neighborhood that I live in.  I don’t know all the history but I could feel the intermingling of classes and industry all bottled up in the area.  I read yesterday that this is one of the proposed locations for a tent-city for the city’s homeless.  What does that mean for the area?  How many life phases has this area gone through?  How do they feel about this?  How do I feel about it? 

Track 4 (“Have You Passed Through This Night?”) kicked in as we made our way past the Seattle Center, through Belltown and eventually downtown.  I noticed people’s faces and expressions as they flowed in and out of my commute.  The smiles from the mass of folks entering once we hit the free zone, still wearing them as they exited before my exit.  Where are they going?  What does today or any day have in store for them?  I feel the smile mask life’s pain and drudgery.  It’s amazing how similar yet different our worlds can seem.

There was a shooting in downtown Seattle yesterday.  How is that going to affect this area, this city?  In the end are we all just trying to live another day and avoid the evil? 

I love that I felt connected to this world today.  It felt lonely, scared, evil, connected and hopeful all in one commute and half of an amazing EP.  I can choose to be a passenger or participant in this world.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

This great evil – where’s it come from?
How’d it steal into the world?
What seed, what root did it grow from?
Who’s doing this?
Who’s killing us, robbing us of life and light?
Mocking us with the sight of what we might of known?
Does our ruin benefit the earth, aid the crass to grow and the sun to shine?
Is this darkness in you, too?
Have you passed through this night?

- Explosions in the sky