Train Crossings, Fifteen-minute Delays, and the Dangerous Prayer for Patience
On Monday I was biking back from morning work and I found myself waiting for a freight train for about 15 minutes right by First St. on Van Buren in Eugene. Every time I've been stopped there it's taken a while, and I think that's because they're always doing things with the trains because it's so near the train yard. A train will be moving right along, then grind to a stop and not move for two, three, even five minutes. It'll start going, then stop again a couple minutes later. You get the idea.
At any rate, I didn't mind waiting for it, but I was obviously in the minority. I personally think it's kind of silly to pray for patience (which, admittedly, is a prayer you shouldn't pray if you don't want your life messed up) and then turn down opportunities to develop it into your character.
As I was standing there, taking drinks from my water bottle, singing softly, and resisting the Arnoldian urge to count the freight cars as they went by, every car that had been waiting for the train on my side of the tracks turned around and left, one by one.
Now, mind you, they probably weren't going to get to their destination faster by leaving. It's a significant little detour to go back up to River Road/Chambers, and it's even farther to get around the tracks in the other direction.
So I got to thinking about it: What's so important that we have to do right now, that we can't wait ten or fifteen minutes for a freight train? Even though most if not all of those drivers had to be at work in a few minutes, didn't they know that by crossing the train tracks they were likely to be delayed? What boss out there is going to fire someone because they showed up ten minutes late to work, with possibly the best excuse besides a family emergency that an employee will ever have to be late to work? (Sadly, there probably are a few bosses like that out there.)
I didn't really come to any conclusions, save this: Those drivers probably didn't think their decision to turn around was a deeply personal one, born out of their inner convictions, priorities, and values. They probably didn't give it a whole lot of thought at all. In fact, they probably had a sense of inner compulsion driving them, a compulsion affected by stress, impatience, societal and cultural expectations, and whatever else. However, if someone wants to truly go against the grain, enjoy the moment, and see an opportunity where everyone else sees a nuisance, then they must make the decisions of their lives based on those inner intangibles rather than on outward circumstances and influences, or even emotions.
Perhaps the most telling maneuver of all on that morning, was made not by a driver, but by a fellow bicyclist who I was riding just behind as I came up to the First and Van Buren intersection. He stopped at the red light, hit the bicycle crossing button, then rode through the red light anyway after the intersection cleared, despite knowing that he would have to wait for the train anyway.
Are we, like him, in a hurry to go nowhere at all?
At any rate, I didn't mind waiting for it, but I was obviously in the minority. I personally think it's kind of silly to pray for patience (which, admittedly, is a prayer you shouldn't pray if you don't want your life messed up) and then turn down opportunities to develop it into your character.
As I was standing there, taking drinks from my water bottle, singing softly, and resisting the Arnoldian urge to count the freight cars as they went by, every car that had been waiting for the train on my side of the tracks turned around and left, one by one.
Now, mind you, they probably weren't going to get to their destination faster by leaving. It's a significant little detour to go back up to River Road/Chambers, and it's even farther to get around the tracks in the other direction.
So I got to thinking about it: What's so important that we have to do right now, that we can't wait ten or fifteen minutes for a freight train? Even though most if not all of those drivers had to be at work in a few minutes, didn't they know that by crossing the train tracks they were likely to be delayed? What boss out there is going to fire someone because they showed up ten minutes late to work, with possibly the best excuse besides a family emergency that an employee will ever have to be late to work? (Sadly, there probably are a few bosses like that out there.)
I didn't really come to any conclusions, save this: Those drivers probably didn't think their decision to turn around was a deeply personal one, born out of their inner convictions, priorities, and values. They probably didn't give it a whole lot of thought at all. In fact, they probably had a sense of inner compulsion driving them, a compulsion affected by stress, impatience, societal and cultural expectations, and whatever else. However, if someone wants to truly go against the grain, enjoy the moment, and see an opportunity where everyone else sees a nuisance, then they must make the decisions of their lives based on those inner intangibles rather than on outward circumstances and influences, or even emotions.
Perhaps the most telling maneuver of all on that morning, was made not by a driver, but by a fellow bicyclist who I was riding just behind as I came up to the First and Van Buren intersection. He stopped at the red light, hit the bicycle crossing button, then rode through the red light anyway after the intersection cleared, despite knowing that he would have to wait for the train anyway.
Are we, like him, in a hurry to go nowhere at all?
posted by Luke at 4:34 PM
0 comments
