I found an old journal entry called 'Message on the Metro.' I though it was pretty cool, so I thought I would share it with you. This occurred in July on 2007, when I was working as an intern for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

"I was on my way home from work today, sitting on the metro, listening to my ipod like I always do. I had the unfortunate luck to get on one of those trains that is a little to eager to go fast, and got so close to the one in front of it and so it is always stopping in the middle of the tunnels. Looking back on it now, I'm very glad I boarded this particular train. As my car came to a complete stop in the middle of the dark tunnel, I looked out the door window across from me, and I saw something that shot a bolt of adrenaline through me. I don't know why, but it just made me freeze. There are long lights on the side of the metro tunnels. These are used by the workers in the tunnels, so that they do not fall down and fry themselves on the third electric rail. The top of all of these flourescent lights are caked with dirt. Ordinary enough, but there was something different about the light across from me on this summer afternoon. Written in the dirt, the light shining through the letters, someone had written a message. "Why do fools walk in the rain?". And that was it. That's all it was. It just gave me a shock, I guess it came from seeing a profound question written in the most unlikely place imaginable. I looked around the train, but nobody else seemed to have noticed it. I almost thought I was imagining things. It was like a scene from a movie, my own soundtrack playing in the background, and the unlikely candidate for adventure sees someting extraordinary that no one else chooses to notice. Then the train started moving again and it was gone. Its highly unlikely that anyone will ever see that again.

As I was walking to the carpool line I was just thinking about this question. "Why do fools walk in the rain?" and I finally came up with my answer. They don't. I once heard a quote that I whole-heartedly agree with and is the basis for my answer. "Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet." The fools are not the ones who walk in the rain. The fools are the ones who walk outside and are suddenly drenched with water and a depression of spirit because life is not going their way. They can't see that life is to short to care about things that temporarily make you uncomfortable, like the weather. They are so focused on their rain cloud that they can't look around and see that it may be raining harder on someone else. The people who walk in the rain are the ones who enjoy life for what it is, low times and all. These people have hope for the future, and see no reason not to dance in the rain along life's way. The are the ones who realize that even if it is dark, and poring rain for a long, long time......life has to have some rain in order to tell when the sun is shining. The few that understand that your life is not complete until you walk in the rain without just getting wet."

I hope you all enjoy that! I may post some of my other old journal entries as well. Some of them are really fun!

CV

P.S. Don't forget to send your questions for me to post about! Charleevale@post.com