Minister’s Corner

On the ride to and fro to Northborough from Lexington, and the inverse, about 500 yards from the top of Barefoot Red often curse myself for not slowing down enough to not rumble hard and a little too fast over the train-tracks that cross the road.  I am forgetful, and they are terribly marked.  I am working to remember to slow down. 

Nevertheless, they have become my least favorite train tracks in the world.  I don’t even know if trains use them anymore. 

However, I like train tracks.  And one quirky thing I like about them is that they are both one thing tracks made up by two separate rails. I have long been bemused by the fact that train tracks are really two metal bars that technically never touch but are paired together for thousands of miles. 

I am struck by both how perfectly parallel they must be to one another for there not to be disaster.  Think about it.  All it takes is for one of those metal rails to be a few inches off its normal spacing from its partner, and all hell breaks loose. Rumbling over them and threatening the undercarriage of my Prius, I have come to wonder why that particular spacing was chosen. 

Returning home, I searched the all-knowing wizard known as google to discover that nearly all US railroad tracks are set to be 4 feet, 8 and a half inches apart.  I hadn’t known that.  Nor that that seemingly random number was used as the standard because 56 and ½ inches was the measurement the English used when they first started building their rail system.  As it turns out the engineers of the railroad system- the math guys not the train captains- were largely ex-pats from Britain.  These former Brit’s brought with them that seemingly quirky 56 and a half inch standard because that was the spacing the tram tracks in the pre-steam locomotive era used. 

Kinda cool right.  As it turns out those English tram tracks were laid down with that unique width because those early English trams were constructed using many of the same tools that built the horse drawn carriages in the pre-industrial era. 

I had fallen down the rabbit hole.  

As it turns out, the coolest part of all this is that those pre-industrial English carriages and the wagons that for generations preceded them were built to that particular width in order to match the ruts in the ground that the standardized Roman chariots had left behind roughly a thousand years prior.  And, the span of those Roman chariot axels were built to that particular size in order to best manage two horses striding side by side.

So, the question might be building in your head “What Rev. Steve is so religiously inspiring about that?

Nothing directly.  Nothing except that railroad tracks are a great example of how we humans’ piece by piece, one layer at a time adapt the past to meet the future.  

Today, although many feel we are backsliding, and I believe in some very real and dangerous ways we are, I believe that with a longer view, the view that one has when develops when one traces back contemporary train tracks to horse drawn chariots, is that the arc or direction in which we are moving is in general, forward.  One of ragged improvement and imperfect adaptation on what was after another.  Civilization has been built doing nothing more than making one more painfully imperfect step after another.

Unitarians and Universalists have a long-standing belief in and commitment to taking what we have inherited from the past and improving upon it.  We still do.  It might be the truest thing about who we are.

So, in light of evolving train tracks and our ever adapting UU tradition I encourage you to remember that although there are powerful voices and trends pulling us back towards autocracy and threatening democratic norms, when viewed from a higher vantage point, we will likely return to a new normal.

In the same way that the evolution of train travel-no doubt amidst some failures, disasters and setbacks have gotten faster, safer more fuel efficient and comfortable, we are from the broader perspective offered by history consistently growing more tolerant, interconnected, sensitive, and just.  It’s just true.

I understand that writing this might feel like a failure to read the moment. Or even to be insensitive to those who could directly be impacted by the political changes expected.  I understand.  I wish we were not here.  This moment is the kind of bad that can make you pay attention.   However, it is also worth asking. is not the very moment we are in, with far broader perspective be read as a temporary reaction to a culture increasingly sensitive and emotionally in tune with those who don’t

progress.  I believe it is.

The fact is that all around us there is a process of not natural, but human selection as to what ideas, customs, and traditions we will carry forward means that we can to a large degree control the world that will be.  That is an incredibly important thing to know is know is true.  And it is.  Humans largely control the world we live in.  Not completely, there are volcanoes and asteroids, but largely.  And we are too slowly for sure, but getting better.

Amidst news of ongoing wars in the Middle-east and Europe, and the increasing distress faced by and regarding migrants, and the internal deconstruction of the federal government, the future can, and very well might get bleak.  All while that is happening, let’s pause for one wistful moment in the war for the soul and future of our species, that the statistics regarding preventable diseases, homicide rates, global poverty, and infant mortality world-wide are all improving.  

I don’t intend on painting a Pollyanna world view.  Terrible things do, can, and always will go wrong.  However, the general arc of history is irrefutable.  Around the globe Tolerance, environmental-awareness, lifespans and education rates- particularly for women- are all on the upswing.  History in the long term will likely lean more that way.

I know it doesn’t always feel it now, and of course I could be wrong, but perhaps for a moment let’s pause to catch our breath that the vast condition that most humans live with and under is far better than it used to be.  

I know this perspective is hardly the makings of a rousing gospel tune.  Far more likely the perspective of an observer with privilege,  but in the long view, we humans are getting smarter, heathier, more tolerant, and believe it or not, kinder.  Please don’t forget that.

So, the question might be building, “What Steve is so religiously inspiring about that?

Nothing directly.  Nothing except that railroad tracks are a great example of how we piece by piece, one layer at a time, we adapt the past to meet the future. 

Today, although many feel we are backsliding, and in some very real and dangerous ways we certainly are, the truth is, with the perspective gained by tracing back train tracks thru trams and horse drawn chariots, history tells us that in general, we are improving.

In the way wagon ruts become train tracks is evidence that we have control over what we choose take, or not take from our past to build the future.  That hasn’t changed.

When I lose sight of this and faith in us, what inspires me is to look back.  When we fail to look back on the so many stupid, destructive, inhumane things that we either don’t do anymore, or do less than before, the story of progress gets lost.     

Sure, there are some voices and trends pulling us back towards autocracy and threatening some democratic norms.  That’s true, and they are surely disturbing.  However, viewed from a higher vantage point, the truth is- even if it is slower than we wished-history tells us that we are consistently growing more tolerant, more interconnected, more sensitive, and more just. 

I understand that writing this can feel like a failure to read the moment; or worse an effort to be insensitive.  But if one believes that the very moment we are in, is itself a reaction to the larger trend of compassion, interconnection, awareness of others, and broadening acceptance of more and more types of people hope to keep working can be found.  At least it keeps me moving.