"That Damn Train"

So many times in life we take risks, never believing disaster can happen to us. Risk taking is not necessarily a bad thing like in our careers, but when it comes to our lives and our health that is another thing.

When I was a teenager I walked the tracks for a short cut to get where I lived. My ex told me trains didn't run by. Duh, and I believed him. (He later told me he didn't want to scare me and trains didn't go by very often) One late afternoon I found out. Good thing I played field hockey in High School. I ran across the railroad bridge I was on as fast as I could go. Heart pounding and not wanted to jump off into the water, I leaped from wood plank to wood plank. I got to the over side and dove into the grass. Out of breath, I lsat there and watched the train go by. I never took the short cut again. Getting mowed down by a train was not the way I wanted to die.

Most of my life lessons were like this. I have sometimes been lucky to run and avoid the train (disasters) and sometimes not. We make decisions everyday and we need to not pay such a high price. Don't take the gamble if it may mean your life down the road. You may not care today, but if you are facing your early death, you may care then and then it's too late.
Life is bad enough when things happen than to choose to take a short cut like I did and put yourself in danger. There is a saying "If you don't want to get hit by a car, don't play in the street.."

When I was young, the dangers of sex was vd and pregnancy. A doctor could fix you up with antibiotics for vd but the pregnancy was not something you could avoid unless you went to a back street butcher. For a long time abortion was illegal. This kept me from having sex until after I left home and for me it was with my first husband. (I would never have had an abortion anyway)

Now here we are many years later. The dangers have escalated. With aids spreading at crisis level, the media seems to be ignoring the current state of the spread. It is almost like the world projected to us now has put the Aids issue on the back burner. Maybe the thought is that everyone is sick of hearing about it.

With cigarettes, despite the knowledge we have now, children are still deciding to look cool and start smoking depite the dangers. Despite my pleas one of my son smokes and having had to live with pulmonary problems for almost 20 years (due to being exposed to something at work) it hurts my heart to think he may suffer someday like I do. At least there are warnings on the packages and you'd have to live under a rock not to know the connection between cigarettes and lung disease and disorders...

People are still trying to use that train track and bridge and ignoring the dangers. They don't want to take the long way around. The want what they want and when the aids train bears down on them, it's "That Damn Train" and lives are changed forever.

It breaks my heart because young people think they are invincible and it can't happen to then. The way life is, everyone is living on trust when they have sex. Spouses, boyfriends cheat and all have pasts that might affect the now. With marriage at least there is a blood test and it would be wise to know for sure about your loves' health. It would not be unreasonable to ask for that at that time . Unfortunately in the heat of the moment, unlike male covered birth control, there is no simple over the counter test kit to grab before going further.  And even with male covered birth control, it can break. Safe sex should be considered if you are to engage in sex. Pre plan what you are going to do to protect yourself.

Recently two people talked in my life to me about putting my daughter on the pill. She will be 14 soon. But there is no pill to prevent aids.

Please don't choose to play on the tracks and be hit, thinking "That Damn Train" Choose your path wisely now before you brain derails in the heat of the moment.