Trains

If I were a nurse educating you teenagers on the dangers of crossing at unmarked areas of the train tracks, I'd tell you this.

Yes, I have jumped a train. I grew up with the tracks close to my home. I jumped the tracks when the train staff helped me when a locomotive broke down on the tracks on the way to school. I never jumped a train on my own.

My parents grew up in the same area of the tracks, and they both had stories of maimed and dead friends from the neighborhood. One kid I knew, K., died when he was hanging out on a trestle one night and thought he could jump off it into the water below. He didn't make it.

It pains me to see the stories lately of the kids who die cutting over the tracks because they  left their earbuds in and the 60 mph train snuck up on them.

It doesn't have to be...be safe out there. Take off the earbuds, or leave one out so you can hear. Look both ways. If you must cross the tracks in an unmarked spot, run. Do not dawdle. Do not attempt to hurry if you have a cart or stroller or something else that might get stuck.

Take the long way and you just might live another day.

I'd rather not tell K's story again.