Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - August 14, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
San Francisco/Part I – five or so years ago.
It was bound to happen: after coming to San Francisco every July for some years my appreciation for the city had to become a tribute. “A recent global perception survey ranked San Francisco the seventh happiest city in the world.” Another ranking calls it “the snobbiest”. Well . . . . A Vietnamese shop keeper, unaware of the ranking, volunteers that the cool weather makes people happier than if they were sweltering in heat and humidity. She said tourists and natives alike smile as they walk the streets. I post here some encouraging impressions of an elderly man with a cane, a priest (minus the collar) -- that’s me.
Along with a shouting match between the just ticketed semi driver and the meter person and, of course, the appalling violence to be found in any large city, there are reassuring incidents. There’s the patient and smiling conductor on the bus who waits as the package-laden old lady struggles to get on, or for the couple with several small children or for befuddled tourists. Invariably on any public transportation, as soon as an old man clambers on, someone opens a seat. By the way, I don’t “hop” onto a bus or cable car; I climb or crawl. Conductors often call me boss, pops or dad! The lady bus driver in the evening calls me honey. The baristas at Caffé Greco call me tio, abuelo or abuelito.
On the street, a good number of individuals in the rush and anonymity of the city morning dare to give a smile, even a “Good Morning.” The security guard at the ramp of a skyscraper greets me -- and everyone, daily, no matter how forbidding, who walks by -- with a hearty "Good Morning" and a smile. The hefty young employee from a ferry leaving work takes time and solicitude, and with a friendly smile, to make sure the old man gets across six lanes of traffic before the lights change.
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
