11-05-2010, 04:27 PM
MasonJar Wrote:Sad that the kids died, but entirely preventable.Andrew
I think that pretty much sums it up for me. I take no pleasure in the deaths of young people, even when they died because of their poor decisions. It's always tragic, even if they died because of driving while drunk, drag racing, driving while texting, hopping freights, etc. The irresponsible or foolish actions leading to their deaths do not reflect the totality of their lives...they had family, friends, interests, achievements, dreams, talents, sides of their lives well beyond that unfortunate teenage tendency to believe in one's invincibility and that the rules apply to everyone else but them. I've noticed that as we age we are more likely to forget that most of us shared those beliefs at some level and were just fortunate to have avoided a deadly consequence for some of our foolishness.
As for track side train deaths, the dangers around the rails cannot be noted strongly enough. Here in the Twin Cities a career railroad employee was killed this year in a yard when he walked unaware in front of an oncoming North Star commuter train.
Ralph