My Week in Chicago

I spent last week working downtown and commuting from my parents house in the suburbs by Metra.  I've worked in the city before, but usually just for one day.  It was odd that I was able to do it for an entire week.  Before I went, I viewed it as an unusual opportunity to catch up with a few friends that live and work in the city.  But the experience was odd for a different reason.    

I think its partially because when I was young I always saw people standing at the Metra stop and it seemed like a very grown up thing to do.  It seemed like that something business people did.  It's definitely not something I ever dreamed of doing.  It's more like a childhood conception than a childhood dream.  It's something you picture yourself doing when you get older.  

That conception died a long time ago and I've gotten used to what my modern day conception of work is, well because I live it everyday.  But for a week I was able to live my childhood conception to see if it matched reality.

For the most part it did not.  I pretty much felt like I was secretly posing as a member of a group which I did not belong.  There were many reasons for this.  First of all, everyone knew where to stand; which platform and where the doors would open.  Second, I didn't have a monthly pass, which set me apart from everyone else.  Third, everyone seemed to know what to do; where to find the open seats and not to pick the seats that directly faced the sun while on the train.  For the most part, I felt like a tourist who is trying to fit in which is ironic because this was my hometown.  I was doing enough to just fit in.  

My second impression of commuting was how herd-like it was.  People walking out of the train station seemed like cattle being herded through specific gates then subdivided at each intersection.  Some would split off left, some would go right, and some would go straight.  All of which was decided by red lights, green lights, blinking orange hands and white walk symbols.    

And that leads me to my third impression, "What do all these people do?"  I remember that after campaigning in a town of less than 10,000 I drove into Springfield and I thought briefly, "Wow, Springfield is actually a pretty big town.  You can go to a Target and Best Buy.  They have a lot of restaurants you can try too."  It was like adjusting your eyes to the darkness after being in a bright room.  So after a while things seemed normal.  I had the same reaction when I was walking to work one day, "Wow, Chicago is a large city."  But instead my reaction was,  "What do these people do?  What jobs do they have?  How can this many people have jobs down here?  Is there really that much work to be done?"  Then, you realize that you only see the people in one of the Metra stations and this doesn't include car commuters or EL or Pace riders.  It's at this point where I start to realize maybe I've spent too much time in Springfield, because Chicago just seems to large.    

Which leads me to my final realization that while I've grown older the commuter life and life working in a big city still remains a conception, just a different one from my youth.  I can't live it just for a week.  To me, I was still just an outside posing as a commuter.  It's a conception which was interesting to see and experience, but I'll be okay with my 10 minute walk to work tomorrow, rather than the 2 hours of commuting per day.