Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Caboose on the loose

Sometimes I'm the engine, sometimes I'm the caboose.

Every train needs an engine or two or three or more.  We push things along, pull them if we have to, work, work, work to get things done.  You can have a train without an engine, but it ain't goin' nowhere.

Every train used to have a caboose.  The caboose gave shelter and a place for rest as well as a serving as a spot to look out for trouble like shifting loads and broken equipment and potential fire.  But trains don't have use for the caboose any longer.  Technology advanced, FREDs could monitor the train electronically and the caboose was loosed.  Train lovers romanticize the caboose.  It's the old way, the way it should be, trains just aren't what they used to be without a caboose.  It's a cherished relic.

Engines are what you have to have.  They're accountants, they're clerks, they're line workers, customer service agents, network administrators and HR specialists.  Cabooses, however, make things interesting.  They are artists, musicians, chefs and poets.  Sometimes I have to be the engine, but I much prefer my time as the caboose.