Look for Trains

Every morning I take my dogs for their morning constitutional.  On our usual route we cross the railroad tracks near my home. We stop.  We look both ways.  We watch.  No train.  We look some more, down the tracks coming from the east and the up the tracks heading to the west.  From the east comes cargos from the midwest or the eastern US.  In the mornings, the Metrolink barrels through carrying commuters into LA.  From the west come other cargos from the ports of LA and Long Beach.  We imagine the exotics from the far east.  Cattle cars.  Automobile carriers.  No passenger trains save the Metrolinks.  Then, when no train appears imminent, we move on.

Now should a train be coming down the tracks we've noticed thay the red lights begin to flash, the directed horns begin to blare and the black and white barrier arms come down.  We feel the ground rumbling.  The train blows its horn in the distance.  The sound of the train itself precedes it.  Then finally the train appears and swooshes by. 

It seems we could not avoid seeing the train.  I look at Ching Ching.  I watch Tater sitting calmly as the behemoth charges by.  I think to myself, "That train would be hard to miss."  But then had the sign not been there, I might not have looked for it.  As I sit in at my desk in my house, I can feel the floor vibrate as the train rumbles by.  I hear the horn.  I hear the squeal of the metal wheels on the steel tracks.  I can tell the train is passing and even recognize the change in sound toward the end when the cargo cars give way to the backward engines being hauled along behind.  Even without looking, I know when the train is passing.

I guess what bugs me is that we so often have to state the obvious.  I remember when I was a kid how much "Look both ways before crossing" was emphasized as we were sent out into the world.  That made sense.  Most kids don't keep their minds on what lies ahead when they are walking to school or the mall.  They are busy laughing or talking or thinking about anything but the dangers that lurk in the intersections of life.  I guess we do need signs to remind us to look before crossing.  But where is the line between a "nanny-state" and personal responsibility?  It is all blurred these days...just like the train rushing past us. Unless we focus we do not see.  And being present as we walk to school, the mall or just through life, is hard and requires some discipline.  Perhaps we do need warning signs more than I thought.  Now that is something to think about.