Iron rusts. Train tracks are iron. Shiny tops on train tracks indicate that train cars have worn away any rust and polished the metal. Shiny rails mean used rails. Trains pass over them, probably frequently.
So, why was 21-year-old Liberty University student Jonathan Gregoire killed by a train on the shiny rails of a trestle over the James River outside Lynchburg, Virginia? Did he not see the shine? Did he not think trains pass over the narrow trestle that has no civilian walkway? It’s a train trestle built for trains, not for people. Was there a clue that the trestle was not people friendly? There is no walkway, no guardrail, and no sign saying, “Use nonexistent pedestrian bridge.”
Some beaten paths are not worth following. If you walk on frequently used train tracks, you will at some time likely encounter a train. Jonathan died almost to the day three years after 18-year-old Hannah Williams, also a student at Liberty University, died on the same trestle. Two terrible tragedies in one place! Two heartbroken families; friends bewildered. Great potential without kinetic realization.
Trains are big, and, like big moving things, they demonstrate the physical principle of inertia. Once moving, trains are hard to stop. Both Jonathan and Hannah probably sat in some classroom somewhere when a teacher said the word inertia. Lessons are paths.
Although it is impossible for any individual to know the collective experience and wisdom garnered by humans over 200,000 years, certain lessons are worth following: Those that help us eliminate unnecessary risk. Sometime in their lives, some loved one probably said to Hannah and to Jonathan, “Okay, be careful.” Someone has probably said the same thing to you, and you have said the same thing to others. Sometimes shiny paths lead to risk.
In many instances, we make decisions to follow paths that are well beaten, but somewhat, or even very, risky. Hannah beat the path on the trestle three years before Jonathan. Had they both lived, they would be the same age, and, going to the same school, they might even have become friends. I do not know whether or not Jonathan knew Hannah or knew anything about her death. Somewhere in the back of his brain he did know the principle of inertia, and he definitely could see that, once on the tracks, a person would have only two options other than jumping over 100 feet into the cold James River: One could run toward a speeding train or try to outrun it. Even if his knowledge of both inertia and the limited options for someone on the trestle did not inspire caution, he could still see the rails. They were shiny.
So, why was 21-year-old Liberty University student Jonathan Gregoire killed by a train on the shiny rails of a trestle over the James River outside Lynchburg, Virginia? Did he not see the shine? Did he not think trains pass over the narrow trestle that has no civilian walkway? It’s a train trestle built for trains, not for people. Was there a clue that the trestle was not people friendly? There is no walkway, no guardrail, and no sign saying, “Use nonexistent pedestrian bridge.”
Some beaten paths are not worth following. If you walk on frequently used train tracks, you will at some time likely encounter a train. Jonathan died almost to the day three years after 18-year-old Hannah Williams, also a student at Liberty University, died on the same trestle. Two terrible tragedies in one place! Two heartbroken families; friends bewildered. Great potential without kinetic realization.
Trains are big, and, like big moving things, they demonstrate the physical principle of inertia. Once moving, trains are hard to stop. Both Jonathan and Hannah probably sat in some classroom somewhere when a teacher said the word inertia. Lessons are paths.
Although it is impossible for any individual to know the collective experience and wisdom garnered by humans over 200,000 years, certain lessons are worth following: Those that help us eliminate unnecessary risk. Sometime in their lives, some loved one probably said to Hannah and to Jonathan, “Okay, be careful.” Someone has probably said the same thing to you, and you have said the same thing to others. Sometimes shiny paths lead to risk.
In many instances, we make decisions to follow paths that are well beaten, but somewhat, or even very, risky. Hannah beat the path on the trestle three years before Jonathan. Had they both lived, they would be the same age, and, going to the same school, they might even have become friends. I do not know whether or not Jonathan knew Hannah or knew anything about her death. Somewhere in the back of his brain he did know the principle of inertia, and he definitely could see that, once on the tracks, a person would have only two options other than jumping over 100 feet into the cold James River: One could run toward a speeding train or try to outrun it. Even if his knowledge of both inertia and the limited options for someone on the trestle did not inspire caution, he could still see the rails. They were shiny.
RSS Feed