bus encounter

Last night I caught the 11:45 Megabus back to NYC from Pittsburgh. I boarded the bus, ascended the stairs, and sat down next to a young man who looked pretty harmless.

The first thing he did was offer me a beer. I politely refused. His name was Brendan. He asked me if I went to Penn State and I told him that I went to a school in New York called Fordham. He said he knows Fordham and he went on to tell me that he went to Penn State, but now he works in New York City. He told me he hated his job and asked me my major. I told him accounting, but that I didn't want to crunch number for the rest of my life. He told me it was okay to hate your job, that everybody's 9 to 5 sucks. He asked me what year I was and when I told him I was a freshman he sighed, "I'm so jealous of you," he said, "I envy you. You have the best four years of your life ahead of you." I laughed and said that's what everybody tells me. He went on to tell me he had regrets about college...I told him he didn't have to list them. He was grateful for that. My phone lit up for a second and he saw the picture of Ashley as my screen background and he asked, "You have a girlfriend?" I replied yes and that she is why I was back in Pittsburgh. He looked me in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry to say it, but it won't last." I laughed at that too. He shut up for a little while and decided to move up a seat in front to sit with a girl he had been chatting with. I put in headphones, but as I laid my head down one fell out. I heard Brendan talking to the girl about me. Nothing malicious, just how I was young and naive and how it wouldn't last, it never does. He told Amy, that was the girl's name, about how he had a girlfriend of two years and after college it fell apart. He had told me the same thing and that she was the greatest girl he ever met. He told Amy he didn't mean to crush my hopes and dreams but that it was the reality of it.

You see, what Brendan didn't know was that he challenged me. He's just another person that wants me to think certain things are impossible. Brendan was in no way a bad person, he was just in a bit of a drunken stupor. He meant every word he said and everything that he said was what he believed to be the truth. Thank you for that, Brendan. Not that you'll ever read this, but thanks. Thanks for showing me what I don't want to be like in four years time.

You see, Brendan, you and I are very different.
You have a job you hate. I refuse to do that. I refuse to settle. 
You let the girl you loved walk away. I won't. 

I'm very aware of the fact that he was just trying to tell me what he believed was the truth...he was wrong though. Plain and simple he was wrong.

I'm not going to end up like Brendan. A sad, alone, unhappy, 22 year old kid telling an 18 year old that his love won't last.

In four years if I find myself next to an 18 year old kid on the Megabus I plan on telling him he can do whatever he wants. That if he loves something, whatever it is, he can make it happen. You see Brendan made the grave mistake of thinking I was anything like him. I'm not though. That 18 year old boy I meet years from now won't be like me either, and because of that I cannot tell him that something won't work. I'm not here to crush hopes and dreams.

I'm here to inspire.

I don't quit on things. Especially not on things I love.

NP: Missed Calls- Mac Miller