Trains of Thought Journal
Trains of Thought is a year-long journal written aboard the commuter trains of the Boston and Worcester MBTA line. Unlike general purpose writing giving little thought to historical value, this journal kept the readers of the distant future specifically mind. Whether consciously or not, my audience is often envisioned this way since what seems like ordinary descriptions can be eye-opening in retrospect – especially if written with the possibility in mind.
[Perhaps if more journalistic writing were written with longevity in mind, we'd limit much of the noise clogging the internet. But that's a topic for another day.]
Three years after Pearl Harbor the country was within a year of an unambiguous victory in WW II. In the same time period after the shelling of Fort Sumter, the Civil War was almost done, and even in Vietnam, three years into heavy fighting we’d already understood the end-game scenario for that war, even if we didn’t like the notion of defeat. Yet in 2004 – three years after 9/11 – the consequences were accelerating with impromptu reactions just then becoming institutionalized — temporary bomb walls being replaced by those with architectural design; shoes removed as a matter of routine airline travel; toothpaste examined with suspicion; horrendous constitutional abuse not yet known.
In 2004 we remained in a state of uncertainty and unease and fear thinly veneered. Perhaps most difficult to see in retrospect – as a whole – we were far too willing to accept onerous measures with extreme consequences and dubious value. The reaction to 9/11 wasn’t worn on our sleeves anymore, yet we were still on edge even if we wouldn’t admit it and we still needed to hear assurances after every industrial explosion and other violent calamity stirring the possibility of terrorism. Regular news-speak habitually ruled out terrorism as a matter of routine just for that reason – in the same way that alcohol-speculation might be ruled out as the cause for a routine car accident.
By now in 2009 we’ve pretty much set aside the apocalyptic viewpoint – including the Orwellian declaration of a Global War on Terror – retired and replaced just weeks ago by a policy of specific activities against specific enemies. A sense of normality has been reestablished where little of the world seems oddly out of place anymore, yet the older normality has not returned. Rather we have accepted this new world for what it is, even as we forget the individual experiences taking us here step by step.
Each time I’ve read detailed accounts of a previous time – whether my own writing or from others – I’ve reacted to the how people saw the world back then, and this teaches me how oddly I see the world right now. Normally we forget the subtle details painting the differences because such details are lost to the sands of time. Trains of Thought is an intact canvass and a window on the past – and perhaps even a time-traveling mirror on ourselves in the present.
Only time will tell if it offers the sort of insight and value I expect.
