The people who take the early train

When Jesse Jackson Sr. ran for President a few years ago, one of his campaign buzz-phrases had to do with "the people who take the early bus." He proposed to champion the interests and concerns of people who had to get up really early every morning to take the bus (as opposed to driving) to ill-paid, low-status jobs.

I avoid buses whenever possible, but frequently take the first or second Orange Line train into Boston on the MBTA. I happen to like going to the office earlier rather than later, although it means staying an extra couple of hours there. But I often think about the other people on the train and remember Jackson's campaign phrase.

Most of these people look like they've just about managed to drag themselves out of bed, and aren't awake yet. I get up several hours before going to work, for reasons of my own, but certainly know how it feels to have to drag oneself somnambulantly to a place one doesn't want to go. And what is the story behind these sleepy faces? They're not going to State Street to make eight-figure incomes playing with other people's money; they're lucky if they're among the people whose minimal five-figure incomes are being played with. Maybe they're setting up the sandwich concessions for the money-gamers, but that's the closest they're going to get to discretionary income.

So do these people like their jobs? Does it matter? Are their jobs worth doing to anyone who has a choice? Does it matter? Do they have a choice? If not, why not? Is it their own fault if they don't? Are they getting paid what they're supposed to be paid, and are they being treated the way you or I would want to be treated on the job? If not, do they stand up for themselves? What happens if they do? What if they or their children get sick? Does it matter?

Do we care? If not, why not? Are we better than they? Who said so? Oh, we did better for ourselves. Are we sure these people had a real chance to do better for themselves? One thing I've learned in recent years is that people can't help being what God made them. God made them that way, and keeps them that way, for a reason. But lots of things happen for God's inscrutable reasons that we aren't meant just to watch with approving apathy. And if all of a sudden we should find ourselves among the people who take the early train because we have to, would we want people to think so little of us?