
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994                   TAG: 9404210192
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-15   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JENNIFER HELM
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SIDETRACKED

IT WAS the grand machine that rode through my little town of Gainesville, Texas; the train took us anywhere and provided us with a wisp of romance each day for only minutes at a time. We counted the cars. We read which railroad lines they were from. Were they passenger cars or freight cars? We smashed coins on the tracks. We watched and waited as a bit of another place passed through our little world.

Well, 30 years later I am in Memphis, where trains run through many of my usual routes. At least once a month I have to stop and wait for the train to pass. I like to watch the people around me. There is always at least one person who erupts in rage and screams out in pursuit of another path. I am always confident they have wasted at least five minutes in this pursuit and have probably shortened their life expectancy.

I like the fact that the train goes through our city and that we have to wait on it. As a matter of fact, I think it should be mandatory that all communities have a train run through them. Why? It is one of the last things on this Earth that we have to wait on - one last thing that makes us stop. We run at everything and become petulant whiners when we have to wait or we are delayed. Instant. Instant. Instant! The pace we sustain is the expected and perpetuated one of our disconnected society. Trains. We need more trains.

In the interest of quality train waiting, I offer the following suggestions. If you must, consider these sociospastic exercises for a better you. Maybe we can make up a song about it later. You know, "Heal the world, wait on a train ... '' Suggestions:

Wait where you are. Just wait.

Turn off your beeper and your car phone.

Look about at the people's faces in the cars around you. Try to make eye contact. Maybe even smile. (Of course, you want to do this with your windows up and your doors locked.)

If you should discover that you have someone in the car with you, try talking with him while you look into his face. You may find that this is an exercise you want to try again.

Try to listen to the person in the car when he talks. See if you can retain what he's said until the train passes.

If alone, just sit and wait and be grateful for the train that has forced you to stop and be still.

Jennifer Helm, an artist, writer and teacher, wrote this for the Memphis Commercial Appeal, where it first appeared.

by CNB