Train Wreck

The metaphor of a Train Wreck needs little explanation. A colossal accident, going down the wrong track, or a huge costly impact.

But what about when a train of thought wrecks? Have you ever done that?

If you sit at an intersection, a train crossing, and go into a trance when a long freight train passes by, it's quite hypnotic. One car follows the other, like a chain of thought they are in fact attached. You can just stare at a single spot, the spectator, watching as the train rolls by. Sometimes a train of thought does the same thing, just rolls along inexorably, one thought simply follows the other.

What happens when the train of thought wrecks?

Why does a someone hop a freight car? Sometimes out of simple curiosity to see where the train goes. But the hobo has no more control of the train than when the sun comes up or whether they'll be bad weather.

And so it is with my mental trains.

I hopped on one yesterday, and I didn't expect where it would lead me. If you've ever had any forebearers whose traits you were not particularly fond of, you'll know what it is like to go over those traits that really irritated you. You can't help but feel guilty by listing the shortcomings of the departed, but that doesn't stop you from doing it. My recent recitation included personal habits and traits as well as the lifestyle and life choices.

Once I had ridden this train for some time, and took in the countryside, I recognized something familiar and realized something discouraging. I have inherited some of those traits myself. What is so clear in others is sometimes very difficult to recognize in yourself.

What do you do when you see yourself in the worst features of another?

It seems to me you have to hop off the train and find another way to go.