Railwatch and People

There is one week left until "Le Big Day" and too much is going on in the group media, and it's really not pretty. It's going to get fairly deep so play well when reading it.

The first concern, chronologically, was made on March 26th, a Monday. I will say now that the railfans involved will not be named. One railfan made a vow that he would bring the Confederate rebel flag to Railwatch and "let 'er fly" especially when the P052 Auto Train passes. One other railfan posted a comment saying simply it wasn't a good idea, and three others supported the idea. I went in there out of a fairly moderate viewpoint, speaking through common sense, saying it is not recommended as it can ruin several reputations. Each year CSX in some way seems to support the event and they would probably feel misrepresented if their hobbyists display signs of hate. I not only mentioned that but two railfans of which are my friends and fully committed to the trip are African-American and would take offense to that. I get a reply from someone else saying that I must've failed Social Studies and that I'm a sandal wearing liberal, (which is absolutely wrong, I lean to the right). He made the S.Stud. comment in regard to the fact GA had the Confederate stars on their flag until 2002 and it was because of those liberals it was gone (not only that he had the audacity to put in expletives). I, not wanting to cause further dilemma, went passive from there on but my thought was he was absolutely wrong and it was out of common sense and simple modernity that it was removed. Anyway...

The second concern does not relate me at all. Yet seeing it on Facebook gives me bad faith that a lot of hate is going to go on during the event. Two well known Central Florida buffs are having an issue with each other over silly little things. One of them had a well priced cell phone bill considering he has talked with his friend, this other's son, religiously last month. Lashing out against the father/kid for this money, the other side of the story is that the guy is backing out and basically not manning up that it's his own cell bill that is to be paid. The more bizarre part is the argument that in taking the person out so much for these trips that he is just using them (F/Son). A clever remark stated that the gas paid was = the sum of money, which is considerably true, but this "middle school fight" doesn't place well in a hobby society. I remain absolutely neutral on this issue but feel very, very annoyed and their vows for the Railwatch event are telling me this is not going to "let the good times roll" as I had hoped.

How will I answer these fits? Much of my South FL group will be there (4 folks will be at Waycross for the last half of Sat. but I intend to join them). Aside from acquainting with other railbuffs, I will probably be railfanning alongside my South Florida buddies, not minding the mess that can happen down the street. It gets really nasty seeing people in the hobby get real personal at the event, and I'm just doing my right thing and hanging out with the people who I know have zero conflict. We South Florida Railfans have had NO true problems with each other that haven't been resolved within days (though one minor issue was someone just wanting to take a break from a couple of us myself included for 17 months, but that was resolved over time; "time heals all wounds"). This is a real blessing in the hobby, that I am among people who have nothing personal, but I do admit it's an acquired fellowship.

However, two merits of the event are as follows.

Dennis is taking his time out of his however busy it is schedule to craft name pins for all attendees. My name tag is visible in this photo:

Also, as always, there is a railfan cookout every year. Danny Harmon and a few donors of food are participating in this cookout to make it ideally better than any cookout in the past. Someone just mentioned how they're bringing food to the thing to add to the selection. I will look forward to it and appreciate the efforts in advance!

With these difficulties I philosophize a lesson. These events are supposed to be for fun and not for resolving a flame war. This stuff should be done not in the eyes of railfans from across. The way people have been acting online has just been ridiculous, like we've had middle schoolers on here. Rudy and Mike (South FL), for instance, have much more maturity and are younger than the above parties.

I hope for one thing at this point: that I can enjoy this event happily.