The Wisdom of Knowing the Difference
There is a train trestle which crosses over a road I frequently travel. The clearance of the train trestle is clearly marked: 12 feet 3 inches. In a three year period, five truckers attempted to drive under that train trestle, only to discover that it was not 12 feet 4 inches, nor 12 feet 3 ½ inches. It was 12 feet 3 inches!
These truckers who did not believe the sign had the tops of their trucks ripped off. On one occasion, firemen had to cut the trucker free from the twisted metal. The truckers were not seriously injured, except for perhaps their bank accounts and pride. Each time the trucks were hauled away, the train trestle silently looked on. A few scratches and some chipped paint were the only indications that it had been a part of such encounters. And that sign! It is still there. Warning – perhaps daring – the next unbelieving trucker, to drive his 12 foot 4 inch rig underneath it.
I CONSIDERED how so often we wish things to be different, as I drove past the latest train-trestle incident. Sometimes we try to “believe” things to be different, but all that wishing and believing does not change or make things different. There is great wisdom in knowing the difference between what can and what cannot be changed, and accepting the one and seeking to change the other.
Rev. Wendell Mettey
Revised 8/9/2014
