Enroute to teach today, there were nearly 20 vehicles and equipment sprawled out along the highway next to the railroad tracks about 8 miles north of my destination. Workers with orange vests and hard hats working, resembling a colony of ants.

What was going on? I pulled over a to take a closer look.

Last month at this same location, a train had derailed and this was a similar scene. 

There had been still a few train cars from the February accident left behind. I was wondering when they were going to take care of them. But that wasn’t what was happening here.

Once slowing down, I realized that there was a second set of  train cars in the ditch. These were not the same ones! Could it be – that a train can derail for a second time within the span of a month in the exact same location???? 

Good heavens it was. No joke.

How could this happen? How could they not have taken care of this problem to prevent it from happening again? Insanity!

Hopefully, the same engineer was not driving. Or, the people put in charge of fixing the problems that caused the first derailment forgot to take care of some things. But. . .

Chances are . . . conditions were too similar for the derailment NOT to happen again.

I sighed a heavy sigh. Shaken.

I know this story too well. 

That is all.

I am participating in the 14th Annual SOL 2021 March challenge. For 31 days, I will attempt to write and share a small slice of life from my days. If you’d like to read more of today’s slices from other teacher-writers, please head over to twowritingteachers who have also committed to this challenge.

A writing practice can be a means of “gaining a perspective on where you are in the movement of your life” and be a medium to “explore the possibilities of your future in the context of your whole life.” ~ Ira Progoff