It’s a phrase you don’t hear all that much any more: common carrier. As I understand it, it primarily identifies a person or a business that transports passengers, goods, or services for a fee and makes their service available to the general public. Examples of common carriers include railways, airlines, shipping companies, and bus lines.

It was a bus ride that brought to my mind that obscure terminology and, along for the ride, a memory of a simpler time.

As a young child, I rarely saw a bus, not even a school bus. My hometown encompasses less than a square mile. The one school was K-8. There was no bus. All of us walked to school, running if necessary to make it to our seats before the late bell rang at 9:00. Technically, by the time I attended that newly built school, what was still called “the bell” had become an electronically amplified buzzer. But I’m pretty sure it was an actual bell when my dad at that age had walked to the old school building in that same town.

At noon, we kids all walked home for lunch. Then we walked back to school, where we stayed from 1:00, when the afternoon late bell rang, until 3:15, when the dismissal buzzer/bell sent us scampering home. The routine varied only on days when it was pouring raining. Then, you and as many other kids as would fit, scrambled into a car driven by your mom or another mother. Seat belts were still a novelty, so if your backside could find a bit of vinyl to call home, you were welcomed aboard for the three-minute ride.

The summer before I started sixth grade, my family moved to a new home just outside of town. Walking to school in the township wasn’t an option, so I became acquainted with the school bus. But for me, public transportation still remains terra incognita. So, part of my recent European trip with Tim was devoted to learning how to travel by bus and train.

Shortly after we boarded a nearly filled bus one morning in Salzburg, there was a prerecorded announcement, first in German, then in English, “Please give your seat to someone who may need it more.” No guilt, no shame, no threat of enforcement. Just a few simple words that evoked an earlier time, a time when recorded announcements were technologically unfeasible – and when reminders to treat others with common courtesy were unnecessary.

A few minutes into our journey, an elderly woman, leaning heavily on a cane, stepped up into the middle of the elongated bus. As she did, a slightly less elderly couple stood up from their seats just across from the door. They motioned to the new arrival, and went up two more steps to take another pair of seats. The woman used her cane to help her settle slowly into a seat they just had yielded.

According to a website I visited, “Historically, common carriers were bound by public obligations arising from statutory or common-law duties.”  According to the Bible, so are Christians, “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” (Luke 6;31).

Even after our trip, I don’t think I’m at risk of becoming a big fan of city buses. But I pray that I, and all of us, might learn to see ourselves as common carriers of God’s kindness and compassion.