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| Train Wreck, Montparnasse, 1895 |
THE WRECK'S PROGRESS
Any train wreck—literal or figurative— represents a pattern developing over time.
At the beginning, all is well. The train takes on its load,
the conductor waves to the engineer and the whole enterprise moves forward. In
this process, the inertia of the train-at-rest is slowly overcome, momentum is gradually
achieved, and discernible progress is made. Passengers aboard the train are free
to indulge their personal concerns—newspapers, a box lunch, paperwork from the
office. All is well. Someone else is at the controls.
But the impressive thing about a train is its tremendous mass: Once that mass is in motion, inertia keeps it moving. To bring the enterprise to a stop requires lots of resistance—friction—over time and distance.
Prior to the wreck there may be warning signs—a faulty switch, for example, or a misaligned section
of track, loose cross-braces on a trestle or excessive speed. These indications,
subtle or gross, show that something is amiss. Whether the signals are
adequately transmitted to, or received by, the engineers, is part of the
pattern known as “train wreck.” The pattern also includes responses to signals, timely or tardy, adequate or insufficient.
If the operators of the train read the signals correctly and
in time, adjustments can be made and the wreck avoided. The destination is
reached, the trip fulfilled.
But if the engineers hold preconceived notions about what is
permissible, and therefore what is actually happening, they may not be inclined
to believe the signals that reach
them. They may dismiss the warning signals as irrelevant to their overriding
goal of progress.
Thus, the otherwise avoidable tragedy takes on a fateful
character. At a certain point in the wreck’s progress, there is no stopping the
train, nor any avoiding the wreck.
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A civilization is not a train, but the analogy serves. For centuries we
have been on a train ride, enjoying our diversions. Meanwhile, warning signals have increased in number and intensity, but the
engineers at the controls seem to disbelieve the evidence of their own senses. In fact, for a while they may even think it profits them to ignore the signals.
In this case, if any passengers see the danger, what should they do? Disturb their fellow passengers? Interrupt the engineers at the controls? Pretend nothing is amiss? Jump off the train? What do you think?
