The train theme works perfectly to relate the truth of friendship and community. When Fin first goes to find the depot where he will live, he walks the railroad tracks
to get there. He later states that railroads made America what it is today. People didn’t leave their homes before the railroads carried them to new places. But, the image of the station agent implies that it is also important to have a home somewhere. Fin tells his friend Emily that conductors stay with the train on its journey, but that station agents stay in the town and provide services like delivering mail, selling groceries, and cutting hair. Fin’s new home is purposefully
located in the depot, the place where the station agent works. Thus Fin is meant for community. Furthermore, the image of walking the right of way is an excellent comment on our duty to one another. Right of Way laws allow railroads to build tracks on private property, regardless of the owner’s opinion about it. In a way, the film suggests that we have the right to invade others’ lives in an effort to pave paths of love and concern. Even when people say they
want to be left alone, it is our job to recognize their need for a helping hand. In the end, it’s what we all really want. How many people lie in hospital beds asking for their old trophies or stock portfolios? No, what everyone wants are friends and family beside them through the toughest times in life.
ON COMMUNITY
What is love? two souls and one flesh.
Friendship? two bodies and one soul.
--JOSEPH ROUX (1834–1886)
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.
--DALE CARNEGIE (1888–1955)
With merry company, the dreary way is endured.
--SPANISH PROVERB
When there are friends, there is wealth.
--LATIN PROVERB
What is love? two souls and one flesh.
Friendship? two bodies and one soul.
--JOSEPH ROUX (1834–1886)
Christ had a very interesting thing to say about this very concept. He said, “People will know that you are my disciples if….” Care to fill in the blank? If…you build a really big church. If…you make a lot of money in my name. If...you gain power and become very influential. If…none of these! If…“you love one another.” (John
13: 35). Christ called us to love each other no matter what. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (v.34) That means we are to love others sacrificially, and without concern as to whether they want to be loved. Christ died so that all people may have the opportunity to be loved and saved, whether they decide to take it or not. There are other verses in the Bible which expound on the idea of uniting and helping one another. If you want to go further, read Hebrews
10:24-25, I Thess. 5:11, and Romans 12:4-10.
Psalm 88:1-18 (MsgB)
Expression of lonliness without loving friendships.
God, you're my last chance of the day.
I spend the night on my knees before you.
Put me on your salvation agenda;
take notes on the trouble I'm in.
I've had my fill of trouble;
I'm camped on the edge of hell.
I'm written off as a lost cause,
one more statistic, a hopeless case.
Abandoned as already dead,
one more body in a stack of corpses,
And not so much as a gravestone—
I'm a black hole in oblivion.
You've dropped me into a bottomless pit,
sunk me in a pitch-black abyss.
I'm battered senseless by your rage,
relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger. You turned my friends against me,
made me horrible to them.
I'm caught in a maze and can't find my way out,
blinded by tears of pain and frustration.
I call to you, God; all day I call.
I wring my hands, I plead for help.
Are the dead a live audience for your miracles?
Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you?
Does your love make any difference in a graveyard?
Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell?
Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark,
your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory?
I'm standing my ground, God, shouting for help,
at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak.
Why, God, do you turn a deaf ear?
Why do you make yourself scarce?
For as long as I remember I've been hurting;
I've taken the worst you can hand out, and I've had it.
Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life;
I'm bleeding, black and blue.
You've attacked me fiercely from every side,
raining down blows till I'm nearly dead.
You made lover and neighbor alike dump me;
the only friend I have left is Darkness.
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