Smile
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frances Vitulla" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 8:28 PM
Subject: Re: [RecipesAndMore] Thanks For The Ride
Hello, Steve, another good one. I hope I can be more like david.
Thanks for sharing.
Original message:
Thanks For The Ride
It was mid-winter at the height of the Great Depression, and George and
David were making their way across the country, looking for work! Any
work, anything that would provide them with a few dollars to send home to
their struggling, starving families.
They did a lot of walking! A lot. It wasn't a very efficient way to get
from one place to another, but they didn't have a lot of options. They
walked and lived off the land (you'd be surprised the things you're
willing to eat when you're hungry enough) and the kindness of strangers.
Occasionally they hitched a ride with a kindly trucker driver. And once,
they met a sympathetic train conductor, who agreed to, you know, look the
other way when they slipped into an open cattle car.
"It won't be much for comfort," the conductor told them, "But it will get
you where you want to go faster than walking will."
Saying that the cattle car wasn't much for comfort was a little like
saying the stock market crash of 1929 didn't do much for the economy. For
one thing, it was a cattle car, which meant cattle, you know, residue,
and plenty of it. You couldn't step anywhere in the car without stepping
on, or in, something disgusting. Plus there was a ton of hay, which blew
around the car like little wind-driven spears as the train picked up
steam. And then, there was the fact that it was an open car, with icy
wind, blasting them from every side. Smoke and burning cinders from the
engine also blew directly into the car, making them cough and gag. Some
cinders even started a fire in the hay, which might have been disastrous
for the train had George and David not been back there to stamp it out.
Uncomfortable? Make that "hellish." But the conductor was also right
about the speed of the train, which carried them several hundred miles
across difficult terrain.
In a matter of hours, they arrived in a large city where they were sure
they could find jobs, a journey that would have required weeks to
complete on foot.
When the train finally came to a stop, the conductor hurried back to
check on his charges. "I can't believe you made us stay back there!"
George said as he mopped his cinder-pocked face with his handkerchief.
"There had to be a better place for us on the train."
The conductor started to explain how it would have been impossible to
have them ride anyplace else without paying, but George held up a hand to
stop him. "I don't want to hear it," he said. "Thanks for nothing."
As George stormed off, David looked at the anguish on the conductor's
face. He tapped him on the shoulder, shook his hand and smiled. "Never
mind him," David said. "You've given us a great gift. We have a lot more
time now to earn money for our families. Thanks for the ride."
Life takes us on lots of different journeys during our time on this
planet. Some are slick, smooth, fast, and comfortable. Others are bumpy
and rough, with blowing hay and burning cinders, blasting us in the face,
and cow residue underfoot. Sometimes the journey is rough because of our
own poor choices. Sometimes our journey is adversely impacted by the poor
choices of others. And sometimes the journey is hard because, well,
sometimes journeys are hard. Earthquakes happen. Hurricanes happen.
Cancer happens. Life happens.
As I watch people travel life's journeys, both easy and hard, it occurs
to me that it isn't so important what happens to us, since we'll all get
our share of both kinds of journeys. What's important, and what truly
seems to make a difference in our lives, is how we respond to what
happens to us. Are we like George, shaking a fist at the heavens and
complaining about how hard and painful life can be? Or are we like David,
brushing off the cinders, shaking out the hay and thanking God for the
privilege of a ride?
It's an attitude, but it's more than just an attitude. It's an approach
to living that embraces life - fully and completely, residue and all.
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