A History of Rails and Waiting - An “El” Train Diary
Not too long after that I got my friend Jaz, who’d grown up in the suburb of Berwyn fer petesakes, to cross from one car to the next via the emergency doors at each end while the train was in motion. We had no reason whatsoever to move seats, but she’d never done it before and the cheap thrill put a wide smile on her face and lights in her eyes I couldn’t resist indulging.
...that when you spend time helping the truly broken—the ones who require more patience than seems reasonable—you walk away with two revelations: how much of yourself still works, and how vital the fragile thread of kindness is that holds people together.