A Superhero Without Special Powers
By Nancy Salvato

I missed the train today...again. The nitwit in front of our car let out her husband at the stop sign instead of making her way through the three-way stop and across the tracks. By the time they finished their goodbye, the brief window of opportunity to pass through the intersection had passed and the gates were down. This happens for a combination of reasons.

One reason this happens is because the train I ride is so long that the crossing gates are triggered well before it arrives. The second reason is that another train, heading in the opposite direction, always arrives 5 to 7 minutes before my train and triggers the gates. Traffic lines up, this train slowly backs up so the gates will be triggered to go up, they go up for about a minute to a minute and a half, and go back down when my train appears in the distance. Damn! Pedestrians pay a $250.00 fine for crossing the tracks when the gates are down. Is it any wonder, though, why so man try and make their way to the other side? I see my friends waving at me through the doors of the 3rd vestibule as the train moves past me.

I eventually make my way across the tracks and walk the platform for 20 minutes thinking about how much I have to do when I arrive to the office. I can’t even buy next months ticket; I have no checks with me. The train makes its way into the station. I climb the steps into the vestibule and there is already a woman standing in there, talking on her cell phone...loudly. The cars are full, this being the last stop. However, as a courtesy to other passengers, I hadn’t planned on taking a seat since I’m getting over a cold. I put down my briefcase and unzip my jacket, preparing for the ride into the city. Two other people join me in the vestibule. There is no way we’ll be having any conversation because this woman has no intention of ending her conversation and she is really LOUD.

I put in my ear buds to drown out the sound. I know it’s bad for my ears, and I can’t hear as it is, but I turn the volume louder, to drown her out. I notice the man standing next to me pulls out his walkman. The woman across from me pulls out her ear phones. We are 4 people standing in close proximity, yet there will be no interaction amongst us except for a smile exchanged between the woman who has also chosen to tune out the conversation, and me.

"One more beer and I won’t hear you anymore..." – Elton John.

I contemplate my age, realizing I first heard this song 22 years ago and I still love the "Captain Fantastic" album. Then I think to myself, with all the important events going on in the world, this woman on the phone can’t think about anything but the drivel of which the person on the opposite end of the phone is being forced to listen. I had a sudden insight into the mind of my husband, who has no tolerance for this type of conversation. My God, there are terrorist cells in this country, plotting their next move. There is a national election coming up and there is so much the electors haven’t considered yet. There isn’t enough time to do the work necessary, to open up people’s minds, to save this country.

"The clock’s running down, the team’s losing ground to the opposing defense. The young quarterback, waits for the sack, when suddenly it all starts to make sense. He’s got all kinds of time, all kinds of time, all kinds of time..." – Fountains of Wayne.

I’d like to feel strange and at peace, but I can’t look at the events around me in slow motion. I understand that I’m in a race against time. I wonder if our non-profit will bring in enough donors to allow me to focus my energies on Constitutional Literacy full time. It’s hard to put my entire self into two jobs. I’m thankful that I have a good day job, one that pays the mortgage, puts food on the table, and allows me to live comfortably –if not luxuriously.

"Working all day for a mean little man with a clip on tie and a rub on tan, he’s got me running around the office like a dog around a track, but when I get back home you’re always there to rub my back. Hey Julie, look what they’re doing to me, trying to trip me up trying to wear me down..." – Fountains of Wayne.

Thankfully, I love my jobs. I just wish I could clone myself because it’s hard to find anytime to relax and I feel guilty when I do because, while I’m not a superhero, I am faced with the immediate task of saving the world, as we know it. How is it that Sharia Law already supersedes our own bodies of law in certain instances? How can a Muslim, married to several wives, collect entitlement per wife in England? In several instances of divorce in the United States, judges look at the culture of the folks involved. They take Sharia into consideration, which is anti woman.

"Tell her what was wrong. I sometimes think too much but say nothing at all. Tell her from this high terrain, I am ready now to fall." – Del Amitri

If we had more donors, we could bring our message to the public at large, the importance of our founding documents, why the freedoms they protect are so valuable, that we’re losing what the founders fought for almost 250 years ago. People don’t understand about inalienable rights or how we came to claim these rights as ours, they don’t understand how moral relativism or political correctness is slowly cracking the foundation on which we base natural law.

"They never tell you truth is subjective, they only tell you not to lie. They never tell you there’s strength in vulnerability, they only tell you not to cry." – Gary Jules.

It is time to get off my train and walk to work. I look around the station. Nothing looks unusual. I walk into the brisk Chicago misty weather. I pass the homeless selling Streetwise. I make my way to my building and into my office. Time to switch gears.