This afternoon, a group from Trinity UMC traveled across to the Ohio River to watch the Cincinnati Reds take on the San Diego Padres. We will refrain from analyzing the game other than to say the Reds’ 3-2 victory in 13-innings was more about the missed opportunities for the Padres’ to win than it was about the Reds’ ability to finally win it in the 13th.
Many of us rode the bus from our church, located in the Latonia neighborhood of Covington, to Cincinnati. It was a 40-minute bus ride from the church to the stadium. Going to the stadium was easy. Leaving, however, was a different story. It took our little group two hours to travel the four miles from Great American Ball Park to the church. We waited for buses that never came. We felt the frustrations of buses that refused to stop, even though we thought we were at the right bus stop. Eventually, we called for two cabs to take our eight-person group home.
It was an amusing adventure and, yes, we felt a sense of relief when our cabs arrived at the corner of Church and Southern to take us back to Trinity. However, the adventure was more than an amusing afternoon spent with friends. It was an eye-opening experience of what life is like for many of the people we seek to love in our community. What was an adventure for us is simply daily life for the poorest in the neighborhoods surrounding Trinity.
Many in our community do not have the financial means to afford the things that we take for granted. The bus system, then, is the only way to get to work, shopping centers, or to doctor appointments. For us, a bus not arriving with a minor inconvenience. For so many in our neighborhoods, when the bus does not stop or arrive it makes a bigger impact in their lives. It could mean missing work, which could lead someone to lose a job that may be a family’s only source of income.
We had the means and ability to find other transportation options. The poorest of the poor often do not have this luxury that we take for granted.
I am sure that many of us will laugh and tell long tales about our little adventure. That is fine. I will probably join in those laughs. However, I hope that this adventure opens our eyes to an aspect of life of those whom are so often distant from our sight and lives. We are blessed to have what we have and today were able to experience life from a different, and needed, perspective.
Shannon Blosser 