Lately, letters about the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad\u2019s train whistle have taken up real estate in our Opinion section. One letter-writer steered the conversation toward a new track (sorry, couldn\u2019t resist), sharing an image of a \u201cno waving\u201d sign in a lawn along the route. We\u2019ll keep the location confidential. But the sign got us thinking \u2013 to wave or not to wave. And what this choice says about us.<\/p>\n
This \u201cno waving\u201d sign is irreverent. And funny. We haven\u2019t yet pinpointed a historical narrative as to whom was the first to wave \u2013train passengers or non-riders. And where. At what point in time did we become conditioned to wave? We certainly don\u2019t wave at bus passengers. Or people in taxis or Ubers.<\/p>\n
It has to do with a special journey. Remember those sepia-toned images of ship passengers waving to people dockside, confetti floating in the air. Maybe this festive sendoff invites good luck. For the train, it could be sharing in wishes for safe travel on D&SNGR\u2019s \u201cleisurely trip to yesteryear.\u201d A salute to living through vacationers\u2019 experiences before we non-riders schlep back to our jobs.<\/p>\n
Waving at trains is ingrained.<\/p>\n
Except for the people with the sign.<\/p>\n
Train passengers generally start the waving business. Then non-riders return the wave. Non-riders don\u2019t initiate the wave. If they do, train passengers are enthusiastic in their return-waving. We\u2019re talking waves that originate from the elbow like animated automatons. Not small baby, anemic hand-waves. Not beauty queen waves from convertibles in parades.<\/p>\n
Return waving is expected of us. Demanded even. No matter if we\u2019re balancing lunch, a coffee and taking a phone call. Train passengers\u2019 eyes contact ours, hijack our gaze, then come the urgent waves that say: \u201cWe see that you need another arm, but clutch your stuff inside your armpit and wave. Now!\u201d<\/p>\n
Again, where did this expectation originate? Is it a genetic imprint from the early 1800s, the start of train travel?<\/p>\n
To wave is a social norm. What if we don\u2019t wave? Are we jerks? Are we missing a fun chip? Are we oblivious to social nuances? Although, a trainload of 350 to 400 passengers \u2013 most waving \u2013 would count as more than a nuance, don\u2019t you think? We feel pressure, especially on days when we\u2019d rather just go about our business and exuberant waving feels fake.<\/p>\n
Jeff Johnson, D&SNGR vice president and general manager, said waving comes from the delightfulness of humans. \u201cThere\u2019s something about the train going by and wanting to engage,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s an event, it\u2019s a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson often steps onto the platform to wave everyone out of the station. \u201cThe minute the wheels roll, most everyone on the train starts to wave,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He called the waving infectious, an innate tradition and \u201ckind of heartwarming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Locals wave back, too. \u201cI\u2019m impressed with how many people do wave daily,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Aside from the people with the sign. But give them a break. Maybe they felt forced to wave one too many times. Maybe they just wanted to do yardwork without having to single-hand a rake or lawnmower. It\u2019s a free country.<\/p>\n
Waving is an individual decision. And who knows, if you do wave, it could be at a surgeon who will one day save your leg after a tangle with an ebike. Or at a tourist who falls in love with Durango (such a friendly city) and buys that fancy third home. Or maybe your heart skips while waving at your future love interest. Or . . . ok, we\u2019ll stop now.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll go quietly with a little . . . well, you know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lately, letters about the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad\u2019s train whistle have taken up real estate in our Opinion section. One letter-writer steered the conversation toward a new track (sorry, couldn\u2019t resist), sharing an image of a \u201cno waving\u201d sign in a lawn along the route. We\u2019ll keep the location confidential. But the sign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-38645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38645"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=38645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}