Greetings, and You're Welcome!

Deke's Note: It's been a while since I noticed that there are "followers" to this blog. Well howdy! Thank you for caring enough about what is written here to request notification when something more is added. This one, dear 9, is for you.

Every once upon a time, I'm reminded why I love this gig. Portlanders are, generally so, appreciative of those who operate the transit vehicles they ride upon. While this "Hop" fare phenomenon tends to allow the introverted to board without acknowledging their operator, even the most docile tend to thank us as they exit. It's much appreciated, even when we don't have a chance to grant you a reciprocal farewell.

Sometimes, I'm treated to a few words with my passengers. This is a welcome respite to the overwhelming silence that has pervaded transit vehicles the past decade as cell phones have replaced the art of verbal communication. I'm also impressed when I look back and find a newspaper-reading passenger. When I first began writing this blog, the cell phone was becoming an entrenched wedge between humans. It has allowed people to disconnect from each other, even as they interact electronically. My bus is almost always as silent as a funeral home. People have lost the art of conversation along the way this past decade.

Social media has given everyone the opportunity to interact with only those whose interests align with their own. Whenever there is discussion between opposing viewpoints, it has become insulting and insidious, without the benefit of shared interests blending with viewpoints. We have become an insulting, seething mass of fury, where we once understood the differences of another were a possible venue to new understanding and acceptance. Now we seem to retreat to corners in which we feel comfortable. We don't have to come together with those we disagree; it's easier to side with those whose beliefs coincide with our own.

My own political philosophy has evolved considerably since I was under the influence of my parents' teachings. While I loved and respected them, my own life's experiences found me drifting away from what they believed. Still, we could discuss the issues upon which we disagreed. We learned from each others' experiences, and found we could still respect one another without any sense of anger or distrust. We were simply beings who came from different backgrounds, and our social understanding was borne of evolving patterns of the human experience. My own children offer differ from what I know to be true, because they are living in a different time as I did, far removed from my own parents' world. It's all relative, as they say. The times change, but the human experience remains similar even as we evolve over the centuries.

Given that, I love people for who they are; I love you because you are kind and fun, regardless of what you believe politically, spiritually or otherwise. We're so alike, even when we fail to understand how our differences aren't as polarizing as is generally perceived. Most of us love those around us very deeply, and want the best the future has to offer. We simply have developed our own value systems along the way. Sometimes they converge with others of different backgrounds and ideas, and that's where humans have a distinct advantage over lower life forms: we can agree to disagree while still remaining true to one another. When we forget this is possible, that's when wars begin, where we forget to treat others with the respect the Golden Rule dictates.

So, my "9," and whoever else reads this, just know that you're not "other" to me if we disagree. You're as part of me as those who do agree, and I can learn from you. Maybe along the way, I'll write something you'll find inspiring or thought-provoking that leads to a higher-understanding, something different than you've ever considered possible before.

Yeah, I'm "just a bus driver." But hey, I've been many other things as well. I've driven an 80,000-lb. tractor trailer from LA to Boston and everywhere in between, safely and efficiently. I have also been a radio news director, typographer, computer technician, customer service rep, editor, friend, husband, father, son, brother, uncle, grandfather, nephew and neighbor. I've dug ditches and had fire ants attack my nether regions under a blazing 117-degree summer sun. Picked fruit under the same conditions, delivered printing to corporations who wouldn't even let me use their dirty restrooms. I have been attacked, insulted, ignored and complained about when I didn't deserve such treatment. Yeah, I've felt the barbs of thousands, yet still smiled in the face of it all and did my best to serve with kindness and understanding.

So here I am, humble bus operator. Through all my life, my one goal has always been to excel at whatever I do. Right now, my main goal is to deliver humans safely to their destinations. With a smile, a kind word and hopefully a bright moment to perhaps a dark existence.

You may not know it when you board, but Deke N. Blue is there for you, with you and hopeful for all the best life has to offer, always hoping the best finds you. All I ask in return is people and their "service animals" respect the rules of transit, treat your operator and fellow passengers with respect and do the right thing. If you achieve all this and fail to thank me on the way out, it's all good.

Peace be always with you and yours. Oh, and you're welcome.