Last night I saw a man lying over the train tracks.
The street behind mine has a train crossing and my mother was driving my sister and me to youth group at about seven-thirty last night when we came to the crossing. It was getting pretty dark and I nearly didn’t see it, but on the tracks, just off the road lay a pair of mans legs. Luckily they were still attached but he wasn’t moving anywhere. He was lying there, waiting to die.
When we got over the tracks we pulled over and my mum got out o the car to go talk to him. I couldn’t believe what was happening. It is just so sad that some people want to end the life that they have, because there is no longer any joy. Just earlier that day I’d been approached by a boy, maybe 19 years old at the train station in Sydney, his eyes avidly penetrating into my soul as he pleaded with me for money.
I don’t know what the story is for either of these people. Perhaps the boy was just riding through a rough patch, running away from home and wanting to catch a train. Still I find it so sad that he didn’t even have $2.40. Maybe the man on the tracks was drunk and didn’t realise what he was doing. Or perhaps he did.
A tradie walking home from work helped the man off the tracks. The man bum-shuffled across the road, stopping cars but finally made it to the safety of the footpath. The tradie just called a taxi and we continued on our way to youth group. If I was the one dealing with the situation, I would have wanted to help him in a more permanent way by calling for help. I just think that he could easily go back there tonight, if he really wanted to do what he was doing.
Some people have sad lives. Sure life is difficult for all of us. But some people have to put up with so much. I just wish that each one of us that has the ability to help could do something to make someone else’s life a little more worthwhile. Share God’s love and help them find their value. If we can’t do that… what are we good for?
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