THE TRAIN MOVES ON

Sometimes it’s the everyday stuff that teaches you the most. A number of years ago, I learned that life – life is like a subway car.  Here’s why:

When I lived and worked in New York City, I daily took the local subway from 96^th street down to 42^nd street.  One day, at 86^th St. an older man got on, drunk at 8 am. He made a huge scene. Everyone in the car was pretty rattled by it.  The police escorted him off at 72^nd St. and the train moved on.  By the time we got to 42^nd St, with people coming and going, only a few of us still on the train remembered or even knew about the old man. 

So what did I learn from that ride about life:  that life moves on.  People get on, people get off, we have vivid experiences, momentous experience s and then life moves on.  Some people, some experiences are remembered -- by some, until they leave -- and the rest are forgotten.  It happens in history, it happens in our personal lives.

A student came in to see me a few weeks ago to because he realized that when his class graduates, no students will remember a young man, a year older than they and dear to many of our hearts, who committed suicide in their sophomore year.  Further, he realized that a student from their own grade, also dear to many, would be unknown to any student when the class behind them graduates.  The train moves on.

The same thing happens in history.  Who remembers Charlemagne or Mansa Musa -- only a few and then, only because it's on a test.  Another student of mine, also a senior, came to the shocking realization that the freshman in the school, unlike the seniors, didn’t know where they were on 9/11.  They were too young.  It was a history book event to them, not a lived experience. The train moves on.

And yet, we don't want to forget those who mattered to us, those who made a difference in our lives.  Think of someone who has meant something to you or played an important role in your life.  Think of that person again.  I bet it was someone who was good to you.  Who cared about you.  And I bet you did not choose that person because of their SAT scores, their business acumen, nor what school they went to.

Because we don't want to forget those who influenced us profoundly, and because we want to 're-member' them for ourselves and for those who come after us, humans have memorial services or holidays.  In the Shinto tradition of Japan there's Obon which, like the Day of the Dead in Mexico, honours and brings home the souls of family members who have died.  The Akan in Africa have rituals of libation in which they feed and include the ancestors because they play an active role in the community.  Christians remember the dead on All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Jews light a candle on the Yartzeit, or anniversary of the death of a loved one.  It is our way of keeping them -- or their memory -- on the train with us..

There are people of history who still touch our lives, who still speak to us and are, in a sense, with us, seem to be the ones who started -- or revolutionized religious traditions.   The Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Confucius, Muhammed to name a few.  And why is it that after all these years, and all the bad things that have been done in their name, they're "still on the train?"

I think it's because each in their way was aware of our short time on earth and how best to use it.  Not a one of them was "successful" in the way we usually mean the word.  They were not corporate or empire leaders.  They were not graduates of the top schools of their days.  The Buddha and Moses, both brought up as princes in royal families dropped out and wandered about.  Confucius, successful as a teacher, was never in his lifetime able to market his ideas to a kingdom.  Jesus associated himself with a ragtag group on the lower levels of society and Muhammed, the most successful of them business wise, gave it up, questioned his sanity and put his life in danger.

But each one of them encouraged people to be kind, to be loving, to be compassionate.  Each one had a golden rule and each one spoke of taking care of each other and of those less fortunate.  That, they said, is the essence of real success.  For that they are remembered.  For that any of us will be remembered.

One of the greatest spiritual leaders in my time was truly a modern prophet:  Martin Luther King. And in one of his speeches he said that at his funeral he would want the following:

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)

I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.

If I can help somebody as I pass along,

If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,

Then my living will not be in vain."

                                                                                    (The Drum Major Instinct)

Life is like a subway train.  How are you going to spend your time?  How will you be remembered?