GreatRidge Station

I saw something yesterday that I wish I had not. I was having a conversation with a friend, when a motorcyclist came up the street and failed to see that traffic was stopped. Glenise actually saw the incident (I was facing toward her, so I only heard it).

What I saw was that unforgettable moment when the motorcyclist stood up from the wreck, walked a few steps as though nothing was wrong, and then crumpled to the ground. People were with him almost immediately, and probably a half-hour later, they took him by ambulance to the hospital.

Since then, I’ve prayed for the driver several times, but I’ve thought countless times about the amazing fragility of life. It should terrify us to realize that we are not in control. Like all of us, he never thought his afternoon would end that way, but it did. I hope he is grateful to be alive.

We live our lives by faith, and even in the most difficult times, we live our lives in the shelter of God’s grace. I’ve been thinking about the truth in this, and I thought you should, too.

I occasionally get these whims, though my dear wife refers to them by there generic name, hair-brained ideas. So, my most recent whim/HBI was, “hey, why don’t we take an early vacation to Arizona–by train.” Not a bad idea, in my opinion.

So, I sign in to Amtrak.com, discover that there are daily train stops in Yuma, AZ, and decide to see what such a trip might cost. Here’s the message I got:

Sorry, we cannot find train service matching your request. Please try alternate stations/cities.

In other words, go someplace else.

In fiddling around with the site, I discovered that I can go to Yuma if I book it as a multi-stop trip, going first to Chicago, and then to Yuma. Since I haven’t taken a train in Xty years, I don’t know how long such a trip might take–I may find myself waiting a day in Chicago and another day in San Antonio all because I didn’t know the time-tables well enough to schedule myself to stay on the same train all the way through.

This is the business world’s classic difficulty–they say “the customer is always right,” but they mean “the customer is a moron.” The assumption is that if we choose to play on their field, we must play by their rules, but they don’t bother to tell us what those rules are. As a potential new train passenger, a message like “Please try alternate stations/cities” turns into “We don’t like you. Please fly or drive.”

This is a good question for all organizations: Do you assume that your customers have all the same knowledge that you have? Do you insist that people play by your rules, without telling them what those rules are? Do you require them to know your time tables (or their analogues in your world) and interpret them accurately if they want to use your product or service?

Worthwhile questions, particularly if you want to avoid becoming obsolete or irrelevant. It’s how Amtrak keeps missing opportunities to serve the public. I’m a train fan, and they have convinced me to try another mode of transportation.

Daniel Nayeri has written for one of my favorite publications, Comment Magazine from Canada’s Work Research Foundation. He is also one of the three filmmakers involved in the new film Cult of Sincerity. This indie film is notable in that (I believe) it is the first full-length film released first to Youtube.

A few things: First, I strongly recommend it. The film is redemptive in nature, though it is not a Christian Film by most contemporary standards. It is not evangelistic, and yet there is an underlying awareness of the Gospel. The language is coarse, and many of the people I associate with would call it impolite, or worse. Despite the language (or perhaps, because of it) the film is particularly real, human, and compassionate. It addresses some of the core questions of life and meaning in our day with both honesty and mirth. This would work well for starting conversations with people who are looking for answers.

The characters are real–in fact I know these people. The faces have all been different at different points of my life, but they were all there. I confess that I saw bits of myself in some of them. Watch it twice, and you will be startled at the complex tapestry these filmmakers have created–art of this quality has a beauty beyond words.

So, I encourage you to see the Cult of Sincerity, with all the aforementioned caveats, whereases, and heretofores. Amen.

The trailer is available here.

After that, you’ll want to see the whole film (just over 1-1/2 hours).