Kindness is slow.
I’m sitting on the train and soaking in every moment of the rolling tracks. I have a strange fascination with train travel. It’s slow. But, as I sit here absorbing all the people and conversations around me, I realize it is so kind.
Slow but kind.
I wonder if there is a relationship between the two?
Kindness can be fast too, of course. But maybe the slow kind of kindness is the deep kind.
There is so much more kindness on a train than a plane. Like more leg room and bigger chairs that recline more than ¾ of an inch. But I think it goes deeper than that.
People talk on the train. To each other! They gather in the observation car. They read books. They play cards. They take photos of the scenery rolling by. They exchange email addresses. They treat each other like human beings.
Because they are being. Instead of waiting.
They are families. They are couples. They are singlets too. They are old men playing chess in the snack car. They are little boys playing Go Fish with their parents too. They are old ladies sharing their life stories with little 5-year girls, squealing at their shared love for Ed Sheeran.
There is a certain amount of kindness on the train, which I believe is really the act of seeing. And listening. To each other.
People listen on the train – to each other and to the conversations of others, as we all hear the creaking rails bumping along below. People look you in the eye on the train. They say “excuse me” as they walk through the hallways and pause to let you navigate the strange space in order to push open doors that connect adjoining cars.
They share their train stories too. Where they are going. Where they have been. The trains they have traveled, hope to travel, and most important, how long they have been on THIS train. It’s a competition of sorts. Who has been here the longest? Who has traveled where? And why?
There is something so very kind about the train, I am realizing.
Planes are fast. Trains are slow.
But sometimes slow can be good – for the body and soul.
All aboard.
More tomorrow….
Lovemore,
Jamie
{all aboard?}
#lovemore
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Tags: amtrak, automobiles, chicago, go, go slow, goals, midwest, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, planes, promises, slow, slow movement, succes, trains, travel, travel blog, Wisconsin
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