Just a Little Effort

I was going to my sister's house. No big deal. It's only a short ride from my work, and comes with no difficulties at all. Not to mention that the bus stop is right outside my office building. In the moment, I was very into the conversation I was having with my co-worker. The large windows in our office look right out onto the main road where the bus passes, and mid sentence, I saw it, the bus. From that moment, I would have exactly two minutes to get to the stop outside and across the street before the bus flipped around and left. I hadn't yet closed out my computer all the way, nor did I gather my things. I was frantic.

After I quickly gathered my things, I found myself running out the door, down the two flights of stairs and out towards the main road. The bus was there, stopped at the stop picking up people. As I was running, I could hear it, the unmistakable sound of the bus taking off. I couldn't miss it. I just couldn't. I looked both ways and saw cars coming from both directions and in a split second decided to do that very thing that I learned not to do in grade school. I was gonna make a run for it. I ran right through the cars toward the already moving bus. My mind was not preoccupied with how many people were looking at me, or what the people on the bus might think, as I ran I jumped up and down waving my arms in the air hoping that the bus driver might take pity on me and stop. And lo, and behold, he did.

I was so grateful to the bus driver and thanked him probably ten times before I sat down. I could hardly breathe as I sat down, and tried to slowly catch my breath and regain some composure. The bus driver looked a lot like a train conductor, with that conductor hat and a thick, twisty mustache. "There are some people," he began "who just haven't got it." I looked up into his rear view mirror and noticed that he was looking directly at me. "I see them all the time," he continued. "They see that the bus is getting ready to leave, and you can see it in their face, they give up. They're weak! They're satisfied with waiting who knows how long for the next bus to come along." I was surprised, I couldn't even understand why he would talk about something like this. "But then," he went on, "there are some people who won't stop trying. They never give up. You can see it in their face that they want to make it badly, and they run. They run like they're in a race. They put forth just a little effort, and they don't give up..." I was now listening intently to what he was saying. "And those people, those people are worth stopping for. Those people are gonna make it. I will always stop for people like that."

I was absolutely touched by the words of this man. I was so deeply affected by his words on a level that truly spoke to my soul. I almost wanted to cry. To think, that this man thinks I'm one of those people. I'm not like that, he just doesn't know any better. I'm a quitter. I'm not gonna make it. I've just struggled my whole life. But for that short little ride on the bus, my mind contemplated for the first time, my own capacity. I want to be that person. And in my heart, this man planted a seed of belief and desire to be greater than I am. He believes that I am the kind of person, who is strong, who doesn't give up, who's gonna make it. Maybe I can, like he said, with just a little effort...

"It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." - William Ernest Henley