{"id":3238,"date":"2020-11-13T08:48:59","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T15:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?p=3238"},"modified":"2020-11-13T08:48:59","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T15:48:59","slug":"the-other-side-of-the-tracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2020\/11\/the-other-side-of-the-tracks\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Side of the Tracks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The expression, \u201cthe other side of the tracks,\u201d has been around for as long as I can remember.\u00a0 Bloomsbury International<\/a> (like a number of other sources) notes that, \u201cSome claim that it derives from the fact that in the time of steam trains, the wind blew the soot from the train to one\u00a0side of the tracks<\/strong>\u00a0(the railway\u00a0tracks<\/strong>)\u00a0meaning<\/strong>\u00a0that one\u00a0side<\/strong>\u00a0would become more polluted and, in turn, this\u00a0side<\/strong>\u00a0would then become the poor, industrialised area.\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps.\u00a0 It certainly has become a powerful metaphor for describing the disenfranchised, the poor, and abused.\u00a0 Even today, our communities bear the scar of that distinction.\u00a0 I can\u2019t recall how many communities in rural Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Tennessee or Texas where I have seen that dynamic at work.<\/p>\n

But now a new set of tracks is carving its way through the world, and it is far more dangerous, in part because it silently divides the world: access to the internet.\u00a0 It is the very thing that puts you, me and the engineers who created this modern-day railway on one side of the tracks and puts billions of people on \u201cthe other side.\u201d\u00a0 We have computers.\u00a0 We have wi-fi connections.\u00a0 We work with words to one degree or another \u2013 if not for a salary, for some feature of our recreational time.\u00a0 And the debris from that railway blows toward the far side of the tracks, where internet connections, if they exist at all, are unstable.<\/p>\n

Today \u201cthe other side of the tracks\u201d is a place where people cannot afford an updated phone.\u00a0 Where people still rely on landlines or flip-phones.\u00a0 Where life is so taxing, so exhausting, so enervating, that even if going online at the end of the day were possible, its residents could not muster the energy to \u201cpost\u201d a picture of their pet, never mind pontificate on the events of the day.<\/p>\n

But, here we are, secure on the right side of the tracks, making decisions for everyone else, in much the same way that people once made decisions for the rest of their community.\u00a0 The difference is that this modern day railway runs around the world and through the lives of everyone who inhabits the planet, and the power that \u201cthe right side\u201d of the tracks is unparalleled in human history.<\/p>\n

Which is why \u2013 in the face of a pandemic \u2013 there are those who have continued to work, exposing themselves to the vagaries of this virus.\u00a0 Which is why \u2013 they have watched their businesses evaporate \u2013 helpless to do anything about it.\u00a0 Which is why some will never recover, never pay for their children\u2019s education, never enjoy a secure retirement.\u00a0 Which is why there are children who have disappeared from our nation\u2019s schools and may never return.\u00a0 Which is why \u2013 an increasing number of people turn to drugs and alcohol, reach out in blind rage, and take their own lives.<\/p>\n

Consider these numbers<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The U.S. is still recovering from the spring catastrophe when the jobless rate surged in two months to 14.7%, the highest since the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

Tens of thousands of businesses closed and many will never reopen.<\/p>\n

A quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds have reported suicidal thoughts and increased substance abuse.<\/p>\n

Half of them reported symptoms consistent with a depressive disorder, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey in June.<\/p>\n

Some 13% of Americans said they started or increased substance use to cope with the pandemic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, the train carries information through the center of town, promising freedom from infection, wealth without exposure, work without an office, salaries via auto-deposit, and groceries without in-person shopping.\u00a0 It all seems so deceptively simple.\u00a0 So rational.\u00a0 So reasonable \u2013 and all about the science.<\/p>\n

But if you watch carefully, the train still carves the town in half.\u00a0 Oh, there is no visible line through town.\u00a0 No whistle.\u00a0 No crossing.\u00a0 No lights.\u00a0 No gates.\u00a0 No sound.\u00a0 You can\u2019t be clear when you have passed to other side.\u00a0 But there are people living on the other side of the relentless divide.\u00a0 Without jobs, without salaries, without a sense of self-respect or control, without a means of keeping their homes or providing for their families. \u00a0Our handouts will not erase their sense of loss or restore their futures.\u00a0 And the debris of our progress will drift over their homes, their lives, and their children.<\/p>\n

So, do we believe in justice?\u00a0 Do we believe that the distance between every soul and the throne of God should be the same?\u00a0 Do we believe that we are invited to stand upright, to walk tall, to own the full stature of the children of God?<\/p>\n

If we do, then in the middle of our fear, in the middle of our bitter conflict with one another, in the middle of our posturing, and our binary decisions, we should stop.\u00a0 We should stop and realize that the railway that we are building in our own day is leaving people without homes and hope.\u00a0 That their needs cannot be met by throwing money at them as we pass by.\u00a0 That we cannot shelter in the smug condemnation that \u201cthey\u201d should know better.\u00a0 Nor can we shelter from this virus, leaving others to pay the price.<\/p>\n

We will need to find a way, together.\u00a0 The strategies will need to be holistic.\u00a0 We will need to share the risks. Anything less will increase the distance between here and the other side of the tracks.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo by Sawyer Bengtson<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The expression, \u201cthe other side of the tracks,\u201d has been around for as long as I can remember.\u00a0 Bloomsbury International (like a number of other sources) notes that, \u201cSome claim that it derives from the fact that in the time of steam trains, the wind blew the soot from the train to one\u00a0side of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3043,3311,3308,3142,3310],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid-19","category-internet","category-justice","category-pandemic","category-shutdown"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Other Side of the Tracks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The expression, \u201cthe other side of the tracks,\u201d has been around for as long as I can remember.\u00a0 Bloomsbury International (like a number of other 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