The first train connection from my parents’ house to a larger city where I transfer runs through the middle of nowhere. The second stop is a town with a school. Often, many kids get on the tiny, two-wagon train. So for the next 40 minutes, I’ll sit there, tucked away quietly between three dozen high schoolers, listening to their laughter and conversations. I always learn something.
Yesterday, some of them tried to prank strangers on the phone. They called people and reminded them of the elderly stripper they “had ordered,” usually to hang up in giggles after the first sentence. I also overheard someone suggesting McDonald’s now did a “Dubai burger” based on the currently-everywhere chocolate—but as it turns out, that, too, was a hoax.
Riding the school train makes me feel old, but it also reminds me to stay young. It’s a window into the minds of the young. What are they thinking about? What moves them? What do they already know that I should probably be aware of?
Every now and then, ride the schoolbus—it’ll keep you grounded, curious, and in sync with the beat of the world.