Happier Abroad Forum Community

I used to hear about it every 1 to 3 weeks living in Chicago. Another person in a hurry crosses the railroad tracks while the gates are down, the bells are ringing, the red lights are flashing, a train is 75 feet away and closing in at 60 miles an hour, and before the motorist can get to the other side, the train plows right through the motorist like a battering ram through paper.

Illinoisans are so heavily rushed that they have practically lost the will to live. And as Sheriff John Bunnell once said on a program called "Surviving the Moment of Impact," of all the vehicles in the world, none is more powerful than the almighty train. Metra (short abbreviation for Metropolitan Rail) is one of Chicago's most well known high speed commuter rail systems. And it takes roughly 10 to 15 seconds for a Metra to pass through. But Chicagolanders still are so rushed and are so without any patience that they would rather die for their bosses at work than wait 15 seconds for a passenger train travelling 60 miles an hour to pass through. They treat their jobs like the military treats a war. They have gone kamikaze with work. Not even wanting to know that trains can not stop quickly like a car can; a Metra going 60 miles an hour can take up to the length of 10 football fields to come to a stop after hitting the brakes. Freight trains can take even longer, up to one and a half miles, to come to a stop after hitting the brakes. And nothing stands the slightest chance against getting hit by a train. Not cars, not buses, not vans, and not even 18-wheelers.

This was also a common problem in South Los Angeles, low IQ crack heads. They modified the crossing arms so it was impossible for a car to get through to solved the problem.

America is a boot camp culture. In America, you are expected to die for your boss. And Americans, being the selfish fakes they are, they want the entire nation to themselves. They are a SELF centered peoples! In America, even when the boss is wrong, the boss is still right. And in America, choosing death over being 3 seconds late is considered a compliment and a courtesy to the boss. Americans have become workaholic to the point where even being a few seconds late warrants the death penalty, no questions asked. To Americans, failure to be even at least 10 minutes early or earlier is as big of a deal as quadruple capital murder; yes, even 9/11. And when an employee is killed in a car vs train collision, the boss all too often takes it as a courtesy and a sign that the employee was doing his job and was bent on getting to work on time or early.