A couple weeks ago, I was stuck waiting on a train. We’ve all been there. We get to a railroad crossing, the lights light up, the bars go down, and all you can do is wait while a train goes by. Trains are very cool. I like to look them over as they go by. Try to see things I haven’t seen before. It never fails, though. There’s one thing I always see on the side of the trains: graffiti.
Up and down the cars of the trains, there’s the elaborate painting of people’s tags. These artists sneak into the railyards and make their mark on the trains. Some are pretty cool, but others you can tell they were rushing because they didn’t want to get caught. Yet, cool or rushed, I must admit. I always struggle with reading them. Whether the word doesn’t make sense or all the letters are big and bubbly, I stare at them for the colors most of the time since I can’t interpret what it’s trying to say. A friend of mine suggests most of the tags are people names–pen names, artistic names, what they want to be known by. It got me thinking.
These trains travel all across the nation. Thousands of people get stopped by them at these railroad crossings and watch them go by. So, these artists tagging the trains reach a wide audience of people with their work. And yet, all they put on the trains is their calling card?
I am–by no means–promoting the tagging or graffiti on trains. People work hard to take great care of the trains. Most of the graffiti on the side, doesn’t help their appearance, in my opinion. But, if someone is going to break the law by breaking into a train yard to leave their mark on one of the cars, they might as well give it a purpose. I doubt anyone cares about the bubbly letters they can’t read or the tag names that have no meeting to them. With as wide of an audience that sits on the railroad tracks, you could send a message–preferably something that the train workers aren’t going to power wash off right away. You could spread encouragement down those rails. Share what you believe. Just think, if someone is having a bad day and gets stuck at a train track, they could look up and see whatever encouraging message is tagged on there and that could change their whole day. Something like that would definitely make a bigger impact than a random name on the side of a train.
Again, I am not promoting graffiti on trains. Don’t give the hard working train workers more work to do by washing away your art. Go find yourself a more permanent canvas you actually own. But, if you must tag a train, and can’t stop yourself. At least try to spread a little hope. You stand a better chance of making a difference that way.
nikki diekemper 