Emil, AKA: Mr. P

His name is Emil, but we all call him Mr. P. Commuting is a part of my daily routine, and it is something that I embrace, for the ride has truly enriched my life. Yeah, yeah... I can hear you naysayers now. I'm not kidding. Taking Metro North to work and home again has changed my life.

Take Mr. P, for example. He's a fellow teacher, who now rides the rails for a living. We met last year, and every time he's on my train, we enjoy a hearty conversational exchange. Every day, I glance around to see which conductor we have in the afternoon. Our regular conductor used to be Bobby, but he had to take a leave of absence because his wife has breast cancer. I truly miss him, and I pray that his wife has a speedy recovery... the train just isn't the same without our Bobby! Bobby and David used to be the Dynamic Duo, but the schedules changed, conductors were bumped and now we just ride with a bunch of curmudgeons.

There's nothing curmudgeonly about Mr. P! Actually, he's the exact opposite. I was talking to Laura and Chris when I glanced back over my left shoulder to see who our evening conductor was. I saw a friendly, familiar face. "Mr. P!" I excitedly (and rudely) shouted out in the middle of our conversation. "MR. P!!! It has been such a long time since I saw you!" He looked at me and his face immediately lit up. What an amazing breath of fresh air, Mr. P is. I didn't even stop to think about the other passengers. I wonder now, what they must have thought about my enthusiastic greeting! I bet they wondered what was so special about Mr. P.

We chatted and smiled. Laura and Chris said something about train trivia, and they encouraged Mr. P to give me the trivia quiz. He checked a few tickets, and hurried back into the vestibule to administer the quiz. "Every train has a special number. What is the number of this train?" Being the logical creature that I am, I inquired as to how many digits this said number had. Chris started to chuckle and he pointed to the far side of the train car. There it was... 8834, our particular train number. I laughed. "8834... that's the number of our train, Mr. P." I declared. "You're right!" he answered. He proceeded to create my prize. He took his train punch and created a smiley face on the little ticket that he punches to indicate that you have paid the proper fare.

Mr. P joked as he punched. "Hold onto this ticket. You never know. They might pick up this show, and it may become as popular as Cash Cab. Then your ticket will be worth a lot... it's my signature ticket, you know." I looked down at the ticket he had handed me. It was a smiley face. Mr, P smiled and continued. "Have you ever noticed something? Happiness comes from within. Those people who aren't happy, the ones who are always angry about something... those people are ususally dissastified with something inside of them, and they are angry because they are unable to change. People who are happy show it because the happiness comes from inside of them." I told Mr. P that I would always treasure his punched happy face.

"Wait!" he said excitedly. "I am going to make you a second smiley face. I want you to put this one on your mirror. You should look at it first thing in the morning when you wake up. Start your day out happy. You should look at it at night before you go to bed. You should go to sleep happy as well." I looked closely at Mr. P. His eyes were smiling. His face was happy. He was content and genuine. I am lucky that I met Mr. P, and that I took the time to get to know him. What a treasure!

Mr. P pleases wherever he goes. He is genuine, happy and educated. He rides the rails and he teaches as he does. He also learns, for that's what every good teacher does. Mr. P's classroom is a non-traditional classroom... and his students are lucky to meet him. The luckiest ones are those who listen and learn something from what he has to say.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. ~Mahatma Gandhi


Go out and be happy. Life is short. May each of you be blessed with someone as happy and as wonderful as Mr. P in your life.

A Place For Change

There is a place
where hopes and dreams mix
with the everyday ebb and flow
of life.
It is there, where one is most
vulnerable
Easily broken and discarded
or amazingly built up and made
stronger.
Taking steps forward
or
falling back into the darkness.
It doesn't matter how strong
one is...
The pull of one or the other
is always stronger.
Do you get pulled out to sea,
or do you get stuck in an eddy-
constantly moving around
and around and around...
Change is the one thing
that can make you stronger.
Change is the only constant
A branch to grab onto,
It is change
which allows you to have
hopes
and
dreams...
for the possibility of
a new day yawning, is only a
sunrise
away.