Well-Wishes from the Bus Driver

That afternoon I went shopping to bring back some food for the disciples. When I entered into the bus, the driver said to me, "Why didn't you run this morning? What were you doing?"
 
He was a very nice, bearded black man. I said, "Are you talking to me?"
 
The driver said, "Yes. Every day I see you running before five o'clock in the morning. I see you at least two or three times every day, but I have not seen you for a couple of days. What is wrong with you?"
 
I explained, "I am relaxing before the New York Marathon."
 
He said, "Good luck! I see you don't give a damn about cold or rain. People enter into my bus cold and frozen and I save them, but I see you running in such cold. For the last couple of days I have not seen you."
 
I said, "This is on my route, but recently I have been running very few miles."
 
When I was leaving the bus he said, "Lots of luck to you."
 
-18 October 1979  
  

[Source: "Well-Wishes from the Bus Driver" in Sri Chinmoy,  Run and Become, Become and Run, Part 2, Agni Press/Aum Publications, Jamaica, New York, 1979.]