the people you meet on the train

i've never been that good at picking up conversation with strangers, especially on public transport. an old friend of mine had an amazing talent for it. i think he told me about conversations with strangers after almost every single trip he took. but, i like to associate that ability with his gift for reading people. i always thought that it would make him an incredibly counsellor or psychologist. anyways, rare occasions when i have gotten into discussions with strangers, it is usually not me that starts them. that was the case today.

it started with him reading my list of "things to do" over my shoulder.

usually this irritates me. i am especially uncomfortable when strangers see what i am writing. not that my life is some top secret adventure or anything, but i like to think that my thoughts, and my writings, can stay private unless i choose to share them. i think what spurred this particular gentleman to read what i was writing was his sheer boredom. as i would find out, he had boarded the train in sarnia (obviously at some ungodly hour, considering i got on in london at 8:14am). the point he commented on was: research - med school applications.

now, as you might know if you've read my previous two posts, i've decided to defer my application for a year or two. this particular "research" involves finding out what kind of references i will need, which i should consider trying to get this year. i figure i should look into this now, because once school starts this will be one of the furthest things from my mind. at any rate, he opened with, "so you're applying to medical school?"

i'm pretty sure he picked up on the med school line of the many written down, because he himself is a doctor. an american doctor. it was really interesting to get into a discussion about what he studied, how his path went from pediatrics to clinical geneticist, how his wife is also a doctor (oncologist), and what he thought was important to get into school and know before you start down that road. we talked about how he enjoyed coming to canada, especially the east coast, and montreal and quebec city. we even transitioned into a discussion of american politics, and his own eye-witness accounts of how far to the wayside some american cities have fallen.

he said he is not a bush fan, and believes that barack obama should win the election. he ended up explaining some of the finer details of the democratic electoral process in the u.s. and cleared up some questions i had. he thought that john kerry should have chosen former general wesley clark as his vp running mate, although he doesn't see how that could be of any particular advantage for obama now. he thinks gore would make an excellent secretary of state, and that the former govenor of indiana (or the man whose father was a govenor of indiana) might be a good choice for running mate for obama. he told me that he thinks we've got a good chance of seeing a black president next year because obama is already leading by 4 or 5 points in voting surveys, even without taking into consideration that most of the voting pool is taken from previously active voter lists. according to the mystery doctor on train 84, the black vote, the young vote, and the general vote will be mobilized in this election as never before in history.

he asked me whether many people i know are as informed as i am about politics. i could only think of one - even more informed than myself, although his time is more largely devoted to canadian politics and government. but, i can't deny how incredibly impressed i was that this man, this american doctor, father of one, travelling from lansing, michigan, to montreal for a week-long genetics conference, was so friendly and well-informed.

it was quite a pleasant trip this morning, made shorter - it seemed - by a happenstance conversation with a stranger.