My thoughts on the Soul Asylum song ‘Runaway train’

“Wrong way on a one-way track, seems like I should be getting’ somewhere, somehow, I’m neither here nor there.” Have you ever felt that way?  The official video of this song is moving. It evokes emotions by showing pictures of missing children. The song is touted to have saved at least 20 missing children, if not more. Kids who had run away, reportedly saw their picture in the video, and reunited with their families. It is a powerful song.

Think about those lyrics for a moment and let them ruminate in your mind. Haven’t we all felt that way at some point in our lives, like we are neither here nor there? It could have been as a teenager, where you didn’t fit in. Maybe it was in a broken relationship where you find yourself feeling lost and wondering how you ever got to that point. Maybe it is in an estranged relationship with kids, and you can’t figure out exactly where it all went wrong. Maybe it is in your career; you are lost and can’t figure out what to do next. At some point, everyone feels like they are on a one-way track, going the wrong way. It is in those times that our ability to learn and grow is at its peak.

Life is full of ups and downs, it has peaks and valleys, it has clarity and confusion, it is filled with a cacophony of well-meaning people, and it can be utterly confusing. Take heart because it can be utterly beautiful as well. When we care about others, or other people show kindness and compassion, the cacophony turns into a harmonious melody of people helping others.

One of the prior stanzas in this song writes “So tired that I couldn’t even sleep, so many secrets I couldn’t keep, promised myself I wouldn’t weep, one more promise, I couldn’t keep. Fortunately, mental health is becoming more and more of a recognized topic. There is less of a stigma than decades before, but we still have hills to climb. There are still battles to be fought with insurance companies to recognize the value of mental health facilities.

For me, this song has a special meaning. When I was going through a difficult time of self-reflection and self-worth, my husband showed up.  I was “like a firefly without a light” and he was “there like a blow torch burnin’.”  We all have people in our lives that mentor us and guide us. If we are fortunate enough, we get to return the favor to others, and it repeats.  Be well, be safe, be ready to get back on the right track.