Lady On the Cable Car

Yesterday, it was cloudy in San Francisco again. I was kinda annoyed that it had been cloudy and cold in San Francisco lately (50s-60s degree in late May!!!). As usual, I took a cable car packed with tourists to go to work. As I was standing inside the cable car, looking for an empty seat, a very cheerful voice stood out from the crowd of tourists and caught my attention. I have been on the cable car more than 100 times in the past 3 months and got used to hearing tourists who were enjoying their vacations, but this one was ecstatic. Without looking at the source of the voice, I sat down in an empty seat across from her. Then I looked up at her and realized…that she was blind. She kept talking with her companion, expressing her curiosity about the bell, having fun guessing whether the cable car was going uphill or downhill, admiring San Francisco, and talking about her afternoon plan to Alcatraz. She brightened the gloomy San Francisco with her big smiles and sparkling eyes. Yes, those blinded eyes were sparkling!!! I was stunned.

A few minutes later, I got off the cable car and proceeded to Powell Muni station. While I was waiting for the Muni, I kept thinking about the young blind lady on the cable car. I had been complaining about cloudy San Francisco while she was admiring it. Of course, she hadn't seen that it was cloudy. Had she seen that it was cloudy, maybe she wouldn’t have been that happy. Or maybe she would have. Maybe she would have been able to overlook the cloudiness and seen the beauty of San Francisco, like she overlooked her blindness and sensed the beauty of San Francisco. If she can overlook her blindness and enjoy the sightseeing, I’m sure she can also overlook the cloud and enjoy the sightseeing. Maybe I can do that too. If I just overlook the cloud, maybe I’ll be as excited about the cloudy San Francisco as she was.

As my N train was arriving at the platform, I looked at the people on the train. Some were looking down at the floor, some were looking away pointlessly, and some were looking at their books or newspapers. None of about 40 people on the train had a slight smile. Gosh…what a contrast from the blind lady on the cable car! What was wrong with these good-eyed people? Couldn't they see that there were so many things worth smiling about? I knew they were not on vacation like the tourists. They were on their way to work. And that might not have been very exciting. But maybe they could overlook that going to work was not exciting, so that they could see that it was Friday!!! And Friday is just so fantastic that anyone ought to smile.

I walked inside the Muni, sat down, and smiled. I smiled to Friday. I thought a few people around me might have thought that I was crazy, smiling for no reason. But maybe, if they overlooked those negative thoughts, they would see that I was just smiling to a lovely Friday in San Francisco.

Thanks to the blind lady on the cable car. While she was in the dark, she had brightened my day.