The Train (Life's Journey)

At birth we boarded the train and met our parents, and we believe they will always travel on our side.

However, at some station our parents will step down from the train, leaving us on this journey alone.

As time goes by, other people will board the train; and they will be significant i.e. our siblings, friends, children, and even the love of your life. Many will step down and leave a permanent vacuum. Others will go so unnoticed that we don't realize they vacated their seats.

This train ride will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, goodbyes, and farewells.

Success consists of having a good relationship with all passengers requiring that we give the best of ourselves.

The mystery to everyone is: We do not know at which station we ourselves will step down. So, we must live in the best way, love, forgive, and offer the best of who we are. It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to step down and leave our seat empty, we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel on the train of life.

I wish you a joyful journey on the train of life. Reap success and give lots of love. More importantly, thank God for the journey.

Last, I thank you for being one of the passengers on my train.

Life is but a short journey. As we look out the window of our lives, the train starts out so slowly when we are young. It seems we have forever to travel on the train. And if we are fortunate to live a relatively long life, the train gradually speeds up and not days, weeks, or even months, but years pass by so very quickly as we watch our lives travel pass on our journeys.

And then we ask ourselves, was all the time we spent on arguments, disappointments, failures, tragedies, and all the other negatives in our lives really worth it? Of course we need time to grieve and get over our disappointments and failures, yet many of us get trapped in time and we lose our way out of the dark forest.

I knew two cousins, brothers, who had some sort of argument when they were in their early 20s and one disowned the other. I knew one cousin most of my life. The other, I only saw once until much later in my life. I still remember that moment when I was about 12 years old. My father was driving us to our cousin's home when he pointed to a man walking on the sidewalk and said "That's John's brother." Looking back to that time, I now wonder why my dad didn't stop and at least said hello.

A few years after the cousin I knew passed away, in his mid '80s, I was fortunate enough to meet the other brother. Just like his brother, he and his family were such fine people. I learned from the brother that they never spoke to each other for more than a half century. Yet, both brothers lived in the same city. Both brothers were in the same retail business--working for the same company. One brother, the one I knew, had a retail store east of downtown. The other cousin had a store on the west side of town. For more than 50 years, not one instant of communications with each other--not even on John's death bed, as my other cousin was never notified until after the funeral.

Two fine brothers; two fine families, yet...

Please watch this video. Though this video does not directly relate to this situation, it will help, hopefully, to resolve similar situations as Sean Stephenson gives a powerful presentation on The Prison of Your Mind. In a true sense, from my perspective, my two cousins inprisoned themselves from knowing each other for more than 50 years? Was it worth it?