MONDAY, JULY 29, 2024 - WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS

 MONDAY,, JULY 29TH, 2024 - WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS

The phrase "from the wrong side of the tracks" is an idiomatic expression used to describe someone who comes from a less affluent or socially disadvantaged background. The origin of the phrase can be traced back to the physical layout of some towns and cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (IWikipedia) 

Growing up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, there were railroad tracks.  Cedar Rapids was an industrial town with railroads going through town.  In the summers during college, I worked at Metropolitan Supply - a school supply warehouse.  Summers were busy.  It seemed like all the school districts in Iowa and Northern Illinois used Metropolitan Supply to get supplies for their district.  We shipped duplicating paper (in the late 1960s there weren’t laser printers), construction paper, crayons, pencils, clay, paper clips, and most common school supplies.  

Behind out building on Southeast 3rd street were railroad tracks.  We got shipments on those railroad tracks.  The train companies put our boxcars on a siding and we went and unload the boxcars and took them a block to our building.  

I didn’t think of these tracks as separating good parts of town from the poor parts of town.  (The railroads were probably there years before Metropolitan Supply was!!)

But in the Northeast Park of town was “Cedar Lake” (which a nice name to go with Cedar Rapids).  But, in common language, this was “the slough”. All around Cedar Lake were industrial business.  Quaker Oaks was on the west side.  There was a railroad yard where freight cars could be sorted out.  Metropolitan Supply never (to my knowledge) got more than one boxcar at a time.  

In other communities, the railroad tracks did separate the good parts of town from the poor parts of town.  

*****

Billy Joe Royal sang “Down in the Boondocks”:

Down in the boondocks

Down in the boondocks

People put me down

'Cause that's the side of town

I was born in

I love her, she loves me

But I don't fit in her society

Lord have mercy on the boy

From down in the boondocks

We still have the rich and poor parts of most towns.  Maybe the rich part of town has houses and swimming pools (at least in Texas), while the poor side of town has apartment buildings and low rent houses.  

In my neighborhood, I’m in an apartment complex - a “reasonable” complex - with two pools and an exercise room.  Indian Creek apartments are not luxury apartments.  I don’t see a lot of crime (but maybe I’m not looking).  A friend lives in low-income subsidized housing and she comments about the drug deals and some of the “trashy people” who live in that area. Across the street from this apartment complex are duplex houses - this is not on the “rich side of town”.

*****

I’m writing this after my Sunday service with John 6 (the feeding of the 5,000).  Seemingly, Jesus went to the East Side of the Sea of Galilee - which had mostly non-Jewish people.  It was like being on the “wrong side of the tracks”.  On the West Side were the Jewish people - and here was Jesus - preaching to the “wrong people”. 

*****

So, where are you going with this Karen?

The analogy is that we are a separate society.  There are those on the “right side” of the tracks, and those on the wrong side of the tracks (even if they are neighbors).  Yes, we are all Americans - but we like to be separate.  Like the South after the Civil War, the schools were to be “separate but equal” - but definitely were separate for the black children but not equal.  

*****

And … I like to associate with people like me - and avoid people not like me.  But, the message is that we are all humans - living together.  In the Declaration of Indepence it is declared that “All Men are Created Equal”.  But somehow we might says “Yes, all people are created equal, but some of us are better than the others.”.

As we approach Election Day 2024, the rhetoric is getting stronger - trying to force us to take a side.  “We are the good guys, and they are the bad guys.” 

C’mon people - let’s work together.  Let’s LOVE one another.  Take the labels away. 

LOVE WINS

• But it is selective win - for those who MAKE LOVE (agape love) their priority; for those who are open to others

LOVE TRANSFORMS

• We have to forget about the “right side” and “wrong side” of the tracks.  We are ALL made in the image and likeness of God.  

• Yes, I have been blessed, yes, I’ve had a good education; yes, I’ve been successful in my life and work; yes, I’ve allowed myself to embrace LOVE

(And a very subjective view - the rhetoric is there.  In my limited experience, whoever is in the White House can do certain things - but there are still limitations.  Was life better with George Bush than with Al Gore?) 

Karen Anne White, July 29, 2024