Well....much as I intended to use my first post on this board to gather Chile Line info, I feel a small but nagging need to express my sphincterlike opinion on this 463 issue, and Dick's message is as good as any to hijack.
There is an astonishing level of harmonic dissonance whenever a bolt is crossthreaded at the CATS that has nothing whatever to do with the mundane realities or the simple facts of RR life. Whenever huge emotional storms develop around these situations, clearly the RR has assumed a symbolic status which reminds me of a child custody/divorce situation wherein a beloved child becomes a warground for its parents' resentments, encouraged and abetted by a useless gang of relatives, friends, and vested interests. The beloved 463, a microcosm of the larger picture, now beomes a symbol for those whose love becomes confused with a need to feel a sense of power and control over a situation beyond their scope of influence. I remember, with a fleeting sense of fondness for the $$ that went bye-bye, when my stepdaughter's 7 year divorce got down to the ownership/custody of a souvenir spoon. I would hate to say how much money and emotional energy went into that spoon, let alone the child custody issues which continue to this day.
The toxicity comes when the parties take a perverse joy in the troubles and failures of the child, which are seen as a symbol of someone else's failure, and therefore are tended like poisonous orchids. The innocent are made to suffer, and the sufferings are used publicly like a club to keep the power illusion going. At this point, even the most rational opinions are viewed as threatening and treacherous. And here we are.....resentment and recrimination obscure reality, and breasts are puffed to pathetically absurd proportions.
If you're waiting for a Rodney Kinglike plea, or a snazzy solution, I don't have it. We ain't the Lone Rangers in this disgraceful behavior--- it's just a mini-tragedy that so much of this precious energy is so negative..... blah, blah, blah....
Henceforth call me "The Preacher"...
john egert
socorro,nm
