Train thoughts

 I love this country. When I travel by train this becomes quite clear to me how genuine my love is.


There is ugliness, of course. Visible poverty and excessive wealth, rusted skeletons of old industrial centres, infrastructure waiting another year before it finally crumbles.


(I am grateful that I’ve yet to see from the windows of a train any Confederate flags, a sight that is even today disturbingly likely to pop up when travelling by car through the South.) 


But there are good  things too. Expanses of forest blanketed by snow. Graffiti on walls. Old buildings from better times. People living their lives in America. And new infrastructure being built! Just a few weeks ago I saw a big beautiful bridge under construction for a highway right by the New Jersey exit of the North River Tunnels. The train I was on exited the tunnel, I see one end of the construction site running parallel to the tracks, and the train doesn’t reach the other end of this construction site for another mile or so. It was wonderful.


It’s a really hard thing to put into words, but watching America roll by from a train window is a really beautiful thing. It really helps me to remember why this country is worth protecting. 


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