Bus Station Philosophizin'

There's something fascinating about the entire experience of taking the Greyhound from anywhere to anywhere... I can't really explain what that experience is with any true accuracy to those who have never done it, but for those who have, you know what I mean.

The bus station is one of those interesting and crazy places where people and pigeons from all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds gather to go to other places for cheap, but it's also so much more than that... taking a bus somewhere gives you a lot of time, at least it does for me, to get into one of those reflective and crazy states of mind where you're ready and willing to talk about anything and everything with someone you just met. And not in a weird way! Bus trips are a breeding ground for those kinds of conversations that make you go "Hmm..."

You know those conversations.

They're the deep, crazy, all-encompassing, heavier-than-you-expected-from-a-total-stranger-or-acquaintance type discussions that not only make you go "Hmm..." but that also give you hope for all of those beautiful things that you can often forget about in day-to-day monotony: rationality (or irrationality, both are fun!), individual thought, difference of opinion, and the beauty and power of discussion and, ultimately, of words.

Those sorts of conversations are crucial! They expand your mind, and you can get to know someone intimately in an hour and a half, and then they can be gone forever. What a perspective you can gain from both the conversation and the realization of that experience...

Really they're not limited to Greyhound stations and seats, however it seems in my recent experiences that there's something about the eerie mood-lighting of a bus that makes the mind start firing on all philosophical cylinders.

I guess that's it then... we just need more Greyhound stations... or mood-lighting... or whatever it takes to get more people talking in ways that are meaningful and that recognize the inherent power of conversation... but maybe that happens already, and I just don't realize it because I'm too deep in my own Greyhound station and haven't had the opportunity to visit as many other stations as I'd like...