Bus Stop Zen

When I saw this individual in what looked like the lotus position at a bus stop, I had to snap a photo.

When I looked more closely as I prepared to blog about it, I realized that the man was not meditating, but looking at his phone.

But it seems to me that there is still something ‘Zen’ (in the loose sense in which we use that term today) about what we are seeing in the photo. Things that used to test our patience to its breaking point – delayed buses, trains, and planes come especially to mind – can now be times of productivity, or reading for pleasure. And so hasn’t this portable technology revolutionized our ability to remain calm in situations that a previous generation found far more stressful?

Also, was I right to not call this post “Zen and the art of waiting during bus maintenance”?