Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”

San Francisco, July 9 to July 31, 2019                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

These notes on my time in San Francisco are not meant as ads for ride-hailing (RH). That’s a generic name for the procedure whereby you call for a ride by an app on your smart phone. This system figures so much here because of my difficulty in using public transportation. My brief encounters with RH drivers serve as a framework for these notes on three weeks in San Francisco of vacation/seeing our alumni.

Going to the business district to meet an alumnus for lunch my driver is Jme, a tall slender black man in his 60s who has had a previous career as an anesthesiologist for 38 years. Now retired, his wife agrees that it’s a good idea for him to get out of the house. -– My spirits are a bit subdued as I get into a car driven by a Brazilian driver named Johnny. His sparkling demeanor gives me a lift. In his excellent English he explains that his wife and he are expecting their first child (!) after several years in this country.  Johnny’s friendly and high spirits would probably be enough to lift anyone’s spirits. —Driver Mth has been here from Brazil for about 1½ years, mostly because his wife’s high-tech company transferred her here. Some talk about using RH to get around, iPhones, computers, etc., leads him to say: “I think older Americans are more active, mentally and physically, than their counterparts in my country.” I have heard the same opinion expressed by drivers from the Balkans and the Middle East.

One evening my driver is Bkt from Afghanistan. I tell him that I had been in Afghanistan in the sixties and that our group had driven out to Bamiyan to see the large statues of the Buddha carved into the cliffs. Since then, of course, the statues were destroyed by an extremist group. Bkt had been there after that event and shows me a picture of himself standing in front of the empty space where a carved Buddha statue would have been. – A waiter at Café de la Presse catches an older man as this patron begins to leave and says to him: “You inspire me.“  The elder says: ”How so?” “So active and alive at your age.” “Inspiring” to “elder” also.

One of my strolls takes me into territory where I am surrounded by names like Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Cartier, Dior, Valentino, and Diesel. Not where I would shop. But I am struck to see a mannequin modeling this caption: “Untucked shirt.” Once upon a time “untucked” indicated that the occupant of the shirt was getting a little paunchy. Now with or without those extra pounds you are stylish. -- I have encountered several drivers from Eritrea, the most recent has been here seven years and his rearview mirror supports a large Coptic rosary. All these drivers seem to agree that everyone wants to leave the country because of harsh conditions imposed by a corrupt government. Good reason to pray the rosary or any prayer. -- Sunday AM driver is Dmr, an American black married to a woman from Mongolia who is returning from a trip there. Dmr drives part time; his full-time job is painting cars. -- Ash, here a couple of years from Punjab, drives full-time in San Francisco and lives in Concord in the East Bay. In Concord (after I mention Minnesota and its hot, and humid air) he mentions the 102-degree temperature there. He has a little statue of Ganesha (elephant head) on the dash board. As he takes me to my residence, we share Namaste. His name, like Ananda, he tells me, means blessed.

Driver Osc, a young black man, is excited to hear about my time in Berkeley in the late 60’s “when it was progressive.” I tell him about the weekly demonstrations, etc., against the war in Vietnam and he responds, "As it should be." He also implies that UC Berkeley is not progressive today. – Driver Qnt left Honduras over 20 years ago, and lives in the East Bay. Four kids and two jobs. He echoes in agreement the usual comment about corrupt government in his homeland. –- Nfn is from Rio de Janeiro but is of Russian and Palestinian descent and married to a German. -– My last driver this July may be the most charming. Her name is Ayn. She is from Ethiopia, married, no children; her husband works at the airport and they live in San Francisco.  Her constant smile has graced an RH car for a couple of years.

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!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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