A Look into the Life on the Other Side

Every day I'm learning new things about BART by standing instead of sitting. For example, last week, I learned that I have to pay better attention while standing, because I can no longer see the station signs and  then I miss my transfer!

Today, I learned all about the life of a man in a completely different life situation than me. To set the scene: he was 70 years old and had a lollipop in his mouth.  He wore a black baseball cap from a fishing store, a Comcast Cable jacket, pink Batik button-up shirt, light khaki camo cargo pants, black leather dress shoes, a very large crucifix on a chain, and a medical bracelet (the type they scan when you're in the hospital). We walked onto the BART train at the same time and he offered me a seat. I told him I preferred to stand, so he took the seat. His worn and red over sized suitcase sat between us. Since we had exchanged words, he took it as a sign that we were buddies. So, what the hey! - we started a conversation. Here is what I learned from the El Cerrito del Norte station to MacArthur station (my transfer):

• He had a 70 year old radio in his suitcase. He found it at a shop for $5 ("what a steal!") and bought it right up. He plans on selling it for a profit.  In fact, he has high aspirations with this entrepreneurial endeavor and has a garage full of "gems" to sell.  Unfortunately, he still hasn't sold anything yet. 
• He liked the radio so much because it reminded him of a radio he used to have. He lived in a nice  neighborhood with a big house that overlooked the City.  They had a kerosene radio and a kerosene refrigerator (is it just me or does the concept of kerosene appliances not really jive with the concept of "nice" neighborhood?).  Both appliances plugged into a huge kerosene tank in the middle of the living room (again, where's the "nice"?). One day, he was barbequing in the backyard when the house went up in flames (the kerosene refrigerator caught on fire). And that's how he lost his house.
• From there, he went in to talk about how now he lives in a new neighborhood. He described the neighborhood in many words - suffice to say it is poor. But he wanted to make clear the fact that he doesn't drink or smoke dope....anymore. He used to [gives me a meaningful look and rubs his nose] which gave him five holes in his stomach and one in his hip (Okay, now I'm confused.  I can understand coke giving you stomach problems, but your hip?  I asked him if that meant he was shot and he looked at me like I was crazy.  Ha!).  Which is why he's now on disability.  Also, did he mention that he gets Social Security because he's 70?  Back to the holes in his body... he states that he almost died twice (once during the surgery for his hip, once during the surgery for the stomach).  The worst part was waking up in the hospital at 6 am so they could put gauze in the holes.  They'd explain the whole procedure to him, as if he didn't have a clue, even though he went to med school (Ha!).  Then, once he was home, he had a woman (nurse) come over three times a day to change the gauze.  At first, she was just coming once a day, but she was a nice lady - a hard worker with two kids - so he paid her to come over three times a day.  All his neighbors would look at him and say "now, what exactly is she being paid to do [second meaningful look]?" but he would assure them that she was only there to shove cotton in his holes and not "to do that" because he's a good, religious man. 
• Which segwayed to his the topic he was most passionate about - church.  When he was a young man, he was in a lot of trouble, did drugs and even was "in the pen."  In jail, he began reading the bible and realized he was on the road to [points to ground].    He found out that God is forgiving and decided to set his life straight (at which point I got a total of three words into the conversation, which was "good for you!").   His new church sounds HUGE and has seven buses to bring people to seven different simultaneous services on the weekends.  This past weekend, they even put on a free carnival for kids.  The man who leads the church used to be "in the pen" but set his life straight and now travels around the world giving out bibles and other gifts.  But never begging for money.  He loves his church and you can tell it's his family. 

At the MacArthur station, we parted ways - me on the train to San Francisco and him on the train to Lafayette (which he likes because it's so rich - he gets to see Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Mercedes, Cadillacs.... every day).  To be honest, I don't know what in his story was true and what was fiction (med school?).  But
I do know that he was a very nice man and super friendly (he knew quite a few of the BART passengers) and he seemed pretty happy.  I think he viewed me as nice, yet a little naive (he asked me if I knew what "disabled" and a certain racial slur meant,. ha!).  I definitely got a kick out of talk to him.