Whistle Clearly

 

Few things put my mind more at ease than the sound of a train whistle.

From time to time a train will come through my neighborhood causing me to take pause.  In my imagination I can see the smoke billowing out of the locomotive’s stack as its whistle pierces the air like a welcome friend saying hello.  It momentarily calms me, no matter my concern, like a cup of hot coffee for the soul.  

When I hear the sound of a train whistle it reminds me about all that is good in life. To me our existence here on Earth can be likened to that of a short train ride.  That whistle can also be a reminder of how short our lives are and how we need to make every day it count.

The other day I was reading the newspaper and came across the obituary page.  There among the eighty and the ninety year olds I found someone who died at my age, forty six.  Our life can be summed up by three things, that are all engraved on a gravestone marker.  The date we are born, the date we have died and the dash in between them. That dash, like a whistle, is how we lived our lives.

Recently, I read that a 22 year old, aspiring major league baseball player, named Oscar Tavares had died in a car accident.  Death is no respecter of persons, regardless of their natural sports ability or celebrity. Death cares not about potential nor earning power.  Tavares was supposed to be the next Albert Pujols, but his whistle had blown and now he is gone.  

This reminds me of a scene from the movie, We are Marshall.  The movie is based on the true story about the 1970 plane crash that claimed the lives of 170 people associated with the Marshall Football team.  Notably gone was the head coach, many of the administrators, nearly all the players and most of the assistant coaches.  The town was devastated, not to mention a certain assistant named Red Dawson, who felt he should have died with them.

In the movie, the new head coach tries to recruit Red to rejoin the team and uses an illustration of a train that had derailed about a year before.   As they are conversing on a shed roof, the head coach hears a whistle, and sees that same train off in the distance now running again.  He looks at Red and points to the train saying nonchalantly, “Looks like they’re back on track.”

There was another time in my life, many years ago, that contained a moment when I didn’t feel like blowing my whistle.  On that fateful night, while staying at a hotel many hours from home, my life had been turned upside down and the next day I was facing a decision that would affect the rest of my life.  Sometimes, you just can’t stop life from coming and doing what it will, so subsequently I took a prescribed sleeping pill to insure I would be well rested for the next day.

But, before I laid down a friend and I went to the grocery store to get a few odds and ends.  It  was there that the meds began kicking in as I went running down the aisles,  talking nonstop and just acting all crazy.  Then my friend convinced me I had better get some sleep, so he drove back to the hotel. As clear as day, I can still recall saying to him I wasn’t tired and then laying down while muttering something about, “the big train’s slowing down.’  And with that I was fast asleep.  Fairly well rested the next morning I arose and did what had to be done and blew my whistle regardless od the difficulty.

Life is short and no matter how derailed we may feel there is always time to get back on track, try again and blow that whistle.  Never stay derailed; because we negatively affect so many others we love when we choose to stay in the ditch of life.  If the truth be told, we may never know how many others’ spirits we have lifted or could have lifted with the sound of our whistle.

It is never too late to get your life back on track and whistle clearly with it.

Swavel