United In Our Differences

If you haven't heard, the Pope is in Washington DC. And it has definitely caused a stir or two today. For instance...my commute took almost 2 hours today. No bueno.
Also...most DC residents learned that the Vatican has an embassy right here in the city. Who knew? Well now we do.

This afternoon, he (he = the Pope) was scheduled to go to Catholic University here in DC and speak to a bunch of people or something - and it was supposed to start at 4pm. Well, I had to head out to Silver Spring for a rehearsal, but I was going to be going by the Catholic U Metro stop about 1:45pm or so...so I figured I would be fine.

When I got on the Metro, it was pretty full. Not rush-hour-packed...but still a larger-than-normal number of riders for mid-day on a Wednesday. Near the end where I got on, there was also 4 DC Metro Police Officers riding, too. I sat down and got lost in my music for awhile...as we continued to head away from the city and out towards Catholic U and Silver Spring.

As I sat there after awhile, my mind drifting away and my eyes looking to the ground, I noticed large numbers of people walking past me towards the train doors at one of the stops...which turned out to be the CU stop. I began to look up and glance to the left, down the length of the train car, and it appeared that I was the only person remaining in the car. I continued to scan the train turning my head to the right, and just then I caught the eye of one of the cops who had been on the train the whole time, as the car doors slid to a close. (I noticed the other 3 were outside the train car on the platform...) As our eyes met, and we both realized we were the only 2 people left in the car, he broke out into a big smile, gave a little laugh and said, "So....you're not Catholic, either?"