A small act of kindness???

Its amazing what a little kindness can do for your day…ok here is the story. I woke up this morning…

well lets say not in the best of moods. Work right now is driving me crazy and truth be known it has been keeping me in a very bad mood 24/7 for the last couple of weeks. (Long story…not going there) anyway I got ready, jumped on my motorcycle and off to work I went, dreading getting there the whole way. I make my turn down a little county road that takes me to the highway and what do I see…the railroad crossing arms

coming down and don’t you know it…I’m on the WRONG side of the tracks…AGAIN!!! (if you’re a long time reader I did a post awhile back about living on the wrong side of the tracks http://bigalscompound.blogspot.com/2008/11/living-on-wrong-side-of-track.html ) Ok back to the story…this is where the small act of kindness comes in…I was a good boy and stopped my bike at the crossing arms, the train was a couple hundred yards down the track just starting to move my way…normally this does not bother me at all, but already being in a bad mood I could feel the anger building up.

Then I looked up and saw the (not sure what you would call him) I’ll call him the engineer assistant

standing on the front of the train pointing at me telling me to go around the crossing arms before the train got there…and I did…breaking the law…breaking the law. As I turned on the highway that parallels the tracks I could then see that the train was long real long (it went on for miles) and was moving at a snail pace. I guess the guy on the train knew it was going to take awhile for it to pass and that’s why he motions me on through. I TOLD YOU IT WAS A SMALL ACT OF KINDNESS!!! I know, I know it sounds like nothing but it did make a difference in my day…here is how, as I was driving down the highway I was thinking to myself what a nice deed the man on the train had done for me…he had saved me at least a fifteen minutes wait…not to mention it was very hot outside.

I swear my mood started to change

as I was coming into downtown Hattiesburg…then it happen, a eighteen wheeler

merged into my lane without any warning…I had to gas the mighty V-Star 1100 to get around him before I became mush meat, only to look back to see the trucker swerve back to his original lane once he saw me pull in front of him…ok here is what is important about that, normally this would not bother be either (when I’m not in a bad mood) because I know the trucker did not see me, he was not trying on purpose to run me down (at least I hope not. Ha-ha) but IF I had still been in a bad mood as I was before the kind deed of guy on the train...well let's just say I’m sure I would had given the trucker a one finger salute and then I’m sure I would have gotten one back…well there is no telling what might of happen after that, Nothing good can ever happen from something like this…everyone in the end turns out to be a loser…

and all started over a simple mistake. (Scary at the time but still just a mistake)

So three cheers for the guy on the train for starting my day off right…and yea I’m doing my damnest to keep it going that way. Funny how a simple hand motion from a guy on a train can change your whole outlook for the day…I’m sure he never gave it a second thought…
Big Al

Living on the wrong side of the track

As I said before I live in the small town of Petal that backs up to the much larger town of Hattiesburg where I work. I love living in a small town, manly due to the lack of traffic…but there is one problem to my paradise, the train track that runs right along the border of the two towns. I have to cross the tracks twice on my way to work, once about a mile form my house, and then downtown Hattiesburg about a half mile from work. I live in a rural area, so sometime the train will park on the track and stop for hours at a time at the location by my house. This leaves you with two options; one sit there and hope the trains moves soon are drive about ten mile away from work and then circle back to the office, just to find out that the train has moved.

It use to make me say very bad words, but now I just live with it…no need to get mad about something you can’t change. Now my wife on the other hand, I thinks she get out of the car and kicks the train a few times. Ha-ha. I have to admit this can be a bad thing if you have to go pee p, are god forbid…well you know, that other bodily function. Ha-ha, clean up aisle three!!! Gross.

Ok so I make it pass the first train and I’m right on time for work and to my horror there it is just sitting there blocking the road again, so close but yet so far, I can see the tower on the building where I work but know way to get around the d#m train. (Oops that slipped out) only good news is this is down town Hattiesburg at rush hour so the train will move but (there’s always a but) it may take as long as twenty minutes at the worst. So it decision time again, do I just sit and wait (the option I usually choose) are do I drive around like a mad man to the many crossing in Hattiesburg (like most people do) ninety percent of the time everyone does this and ends up going to the wrong crossing and ends up waiting longer due to the train doing its little dance…you know the one, where it goes forward then stops and goes backward for awhile, I have to admit I love watching people in my rear view mirror falling apart in their car as the train almost gets across the tracks and then stops and backs up. People really let this bother them; I think it funny most of the time.

Then there is one more thing I find very funny, most of the people in my office live in Hattiesburg, and have to fight god awful traffic every day to and from work, I’m sure it takes each of them thirty to forty minutes of commute each way everyday. But if I show up late maybe once a month due to a train, all I hear is “that why I would never live in Petal” crazy how peoples mind works…ha-ha

Oh yea in case you are wondering why this post now…well I was stopped by a train this morning, and was late for work. Ha-ha.