There are times when my life feels like Groundhog Day. No that's not right. I'm gonna say that it feels more like Die Hard 2. There's a scene in that movie where Bruce Willis is running down a tunnel or something and says, "How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice." I find myself saying the same thing from time to time. Today was no exception.
As you all know, this has been a hellacious year for me. A few weeks ago my best friend suggested I get out of dodge for a little while, so I bought a ticket to Philly. Now I like to believe that I have a sixth sense about things. Either that or I'm about as paranoid as a meerkat. Whatever the case may be, something told me that this trip would be problematic. So I flipped a coin to pick the date. Don't ask how a two sided coin can select the date and time of departure/arrival. I'm gifted.
Anyway, I picked April 17th and train number 86 to Philly. Now, if you have any free time and want to check the news to verify if I just make these stories up...you'll find that at approximately 10:30 some poor soul became overwhelmed by life and jumped in front of a speeding train. That's about the time that my train did something weird. It didn't really rattle or anything. There was just a noise and then they slammed on the brakes. There was this smokey smell soon after that I assumed was from the brakes, but so close to the Boston bombing, you can understand how people would be slightly rattled.
"Attention passengers, we hit an (pause) obstruction on the tracks. We're going to inspect the tracks and train."
A few minutes later...
"Ladies and gentlemen, that obstruction turned out to be a person. We have a suicide on our hands. We will be here indefinitely as we await the police, coroner and EMTs. This train is now part of an investigation and likely you will be placed on a rescue train, but we don't know when that will be."
Well that turned out to be about three hours later. It was standing room only on the next train and I rode that for the next 30-45 minutes to Philly. Some people took offense to what happened. They openly discussed how "selfish" the suicide was and how the person didn't have to ruin everyone else's day (Several people actually said this aloud).
I saw it as an unfortunate event. Having had a hell of a year so far, I can understand that we're all just a few bad days away from giving up. Plus, I don't have cancer, so things kinda roll off my back now. I made it to Philly, I hung out with my friend, and we had a great day. On the way back to the station, the running joke was, "You'll be fine as long as no one else decides to jump in front of your train on the way home."
I get to the station and no more than five minutes after I get there the little board scrambles around and says, "DELAYED." I asked one of the people at the information counter if this was just a normal delay. The woman responded:
"Honestly, I'd get comfortable. They had a suicide on the tracks."
"Oh, I know about that. I was actually on the train that hit the person this morning. I'm talking about the southbound train to DC."
"So am I. There was a suicide this morning and one just a moment ago. The train heading south to DC hit someone. Wait, you were on the train this morning too?"
So for the next two hours, I found myself regaling people with my tale. For whatever reason, random strangers struck up conversation: "Hey, someone said there was a suicide this morning too, but I can't imagine two in one day."
"It's true. I was on that one."
"Wow, what are the odds?"
"Hey, I heard the delay is because of a suicide. Can you imagine being on the train that hit someone? That's gotta be awful."
"Yeah, I was actually on the one that hit the person earlier this morning."
"Wait, there were two? In one day? And you've been around for both? That's freaky."
While it wasn't exactly the trip I had in mind, I felt a little relieved. Things were bad earlier in the year, but not so bad that I felt that was the way to go. I don't care what anyone says, killing yourself isn't a coward's way out. It isn't the right one either, but I have to believe that jumping in front of a moving train is anything but an easy decision. It's an act of desperation and indicative of the world in which we live where it can happen twice in one day and in both times I witness a people talk about how inconvenient someone else's death was for them.
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