An Interesting Ride Home....

I'm finally home from going to Seattle twice in 10 days! It's been mostly for work, but I got to spend time with my dad on his birthday so that was nice.

Traveling between Portland and Seattle is nothing new for me. Ian and I have  been doing it for a long time for both work and pleasure, however, today was a bit different.

While waiting in Chinatown for the 6:00 PM Bolt Bus, two previous Bolt Buses passed us up because they were either done with their shift, or did not have enough gas to make the full trip. Due to the Seattle Mariners/Yankees game, traffic was nasty and the bus didn't show up until 6:38 PM.

The bus was filled to capacity and I was the very last person to get on. Looking around and walking towards the middle I realized there was no seats available. WTF? Really? This is super shitty.
So I walked towards the front and the bus driver looked at a girl's ticket on her phone and realized she bought a ticket for the 2:00 PM bus, not the 6:00 PM. I was relieved that there was a seat but also sad that she had waited long only to find out she is on the wrong bus.

So I took my seat, which was at the very front row. Next to me was a man name Allen. He was a 55 year old Portlander who came up to the Mariners game to see them play the Yankees. I don't really know why but we kept talking about all kinds of things. He a scout troop leader, had 5 sons, a self taught machinist and conveyer belt designer, and he was extremely conservative in his political and community views. We were talking about traveling and I noted that it's when I leave the Northwest liberal utopia that I realize how conservative our country really is. Allen responded, "I'm the conservative one and I am amazed at that as well!"

He told me that prior to the the reign of Sam Adams his neighborhood just past I-205 in NE Portland was a good neighborhood with good schools. Now that all of the low income housing has moved east into his neighborhood, it has really changed the dynamic of his community. He told me he's never seen so much crime go unreported or unmentioned in the media, and the people he talks to feel like they are entitled to government food stamps and subsidized housing, but they do not do anything to lift themselves out of poverty. I then told him that my parents came to Vietnam with nothing and they made something of themselves even though they started out with nothing as well. Any kind of hand outs they took were temporary and they gave my sister and I a great childhood. Flash forward to now, those opportunities are drying up and there's less hope for the people living in poverty, or coming from a developing country to make something of themselves. Those programs are no longer in existence.   Allen only kind of agreed with this point.

"1 in 5 Oregonians depend on food stamps" -The Oregonian.


I don't agree or disagree with Allen's feelings because, yes, there are people who are milking the system, however, when 1 in 5 people in this state are on food stamps, this is not always the fault of the people. Over 40% of the middle class wealth is now gone. It is the fault of the greedy banks stealing people's homes, and also the citys, neighbors, and myself who are not helping enough.

We've become so competitive and complacent with ourselves that we don't have enough time to think of others. Life is precious and giving back is worth its weight in gold.

Life can also be altered or taken away in an instant. I had a big reminder of that today.

Today there was a car accident just 30 meters from Exit 21, the Dike Access Road/Woodland road. The two cars were crushed like an accordian, broken glass everywhere, and on the right hand shoulder was a semi with a bruised front and side panel. Everyone on the Bolt bus held their breath as the we crept by the scene of the accident. There were no signs of the victims in the car, but I know we must have all imagined their state of injuries were. It was not a pretty sight.

As we crossed the Columbia River Crossing Allen told me that early in the 60s/70s Janzten Beach was not a bunch of strip malls. It used to be an amusement park and public pool complex.

"They had the best wooden roller coaster. On the very last they they were in operation they let people ride for free, and I rode it over and over."

It was fun to imagine Janzten Beach without a Hooters or Michaels. Just an amusement park and a swimming pool for the public. I imagined the lights from the amusement park bouncing off the Bolt bus windows as we drove into downtown Portland. It's pretty to imagine, right?

I guess home is where your heart is, but it is also where your mind is most at peace.