A Bah-Humbug Commute

So there I was, reading about the Palestinian crisis in my 'Express', minding my own business somewhere between Suitland and Anacostia and I start to hear singing; Christmas carols... So I'm thinking... "Ok, someone has their headphones/radio on a little louder than it should be, or someone has a Christmas ringtone..." No, it's definitely singing... I give a furtive glance around the train car, so as to not let on that I've noticed anything out of the ordinary and to maintain the detachment that is essential when riding mass transit.... It turns out there's a man in a bright red coat and beret standing in the middle of the train car belting out one of those more 'religious' Christmas songs; more of a Christmas Hymn really. Stitched across the back of this guy's red jacket was the logo of and words "Guardian Angels". Great... You're probably aware of the two major 'Angel' groups out there... The Hells' Angels - mostly white, biker folk who terrorize travelers on the highways and revel in other gang-related violence and mayhem, and the 'Guardian Angels' - the mostly black quasi-vigilante group that is intended to fight crime, social ugliness, gang-related activities and other social activism - evidentially within a Christian/religious context.

Each morning I particularly enjoy the quiet (silent really), socially disengaged reading time that is my morning train ride. So often the walk to my building from the metro station involves numerous solicitations from pan-handlers and people trying to push fliers and leaflets into your hands, traffic honking and screeching, and the ride home is often filled with school children or college students, both of whom are obnoxiously loud and talkative. So I'm loathsomely contemplating this, with a burning, secular indignation swelling within me that my morning commute should be so interrupted by some evidentially unemployed, self-styled vigilante singing Christmas Hymns in my train car to do his "good work" by pushing his Judeo-Christian religiosity on me and my fellow commuters... Interrupting my newspaper reading time no less! It was a dastardly ploy as well, as on the Washington Metro system passengers cannot move between cars while the train is moving - captive audiences.

Well, to make a long story short, I was gathering up my belongings to move to a different car when the train was approaching a station when this musical missionary, this jolly jihadist waging his holiday holy war one captive train car audience at a time, left our car on his own accord, presumably to bring his 'cheer' to other weary morning commuters, no doubt as equally enthusiastic as myself (judging from the reactions of the commuters in my car).

As the train pulled out of the next station (Anacostia) en route to Congress Heights I joyfully returned to my newspaper reading about intractable conflict in the Holy Land, Iraq and and looming 2008 Presidential Election. As we crossed the Anacostia River and were rolling along towards the Navy Yard I found myself thinking, "Well, at least he had a good voice."