Friday, 25 July 2014

Fellow Travellers



I received this poem the other day about our lives being symbolised by a train journey and the passengers being the people we meet along the way. I guess everyone can relate to it in at least a few ways.

What struck a chord with me, was how people pass through your life. You don't know how long they will stay and you don't know how they will impact your life and you theirs. Some things are certain, the train will start a journey and the journey will end. Passengers will get on and passengers will get off. The quality of the time together and the type of impact is decided by  you. You decide with whom and how you interact. It is true that you can’t interact with every single passenger and even those you do interact with is done so at varying levels of connection or relationship.  Some may be really intimate with whom you may share your deepest secrets and dreams, and others may be purely functional, like the ticket collector, for example. Both are necessary, so remember to respect them for the roles they play in your journey.  What about those people you don’t meet or those you have the briefest encounters with? How much of an influence can you have on them? Show them your best side. Give them a warm smile and say ‘hello’. It may be just the thing they need at that precise moment to lift them up. You may have been position in that exact spot at that exact time to do something as simple as smile but is something that only you could do, choose to do it. It can never do any damage but can bring about so much joy, it’s worth doing…

What about the people we love and lose along the way? Lost or could lose through death or a choice of different stations and destinations? Do you chose not to love again and expose yourself to potential loss or do you hold onto the good, and hope for a future of even more love?

The train we chose has a heading of unknown destination. We do know that it will end its journey at some point and we have dreams and visions of the destinations along the way. Depending on our circumstances we may chose a slight detour and switch tracks to a new dream. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes the train is stationary to take on fuel and water or much needed repairs. The same is true for our lives, when we need time out to be refreshed for the next leg of the journey.

Be ready, as the journey will have mountains and dark valleys but remember there are also beautiful landscape views at the top of the mountain and an incredible ride down the other side. The valleys contain treasures and hidden secrets that wouldn’t have been otherwise found. The journey also has spectacular sunrises and sunsets, moments that will always be remembered. There will be fellow passengers that will be locked in your heart, whether sitting next to you or moved on to other destinations. Cherish the journey and make the moments.

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