Punctuation Marks

Once the final punctuation mark at the end of the train, now the few cabooses left are to be found on sidings such as this one in Strathmore, Alberta. When a train crosses in front of me I find myself subconsciously looking for something more. The train seems to end far too abruptly without the little red caboose.

Most of life has its own punctuation marks or dividers, sectioning off time periods and delineating events. This era or that is always known by some characteristic symbol. Even within one's own life there are always memories or events marking beginnings and endings. As time goes on they're often all that remains.

In the case of World War I the image of the trench soldier with his helmet on and bayonet fixed going over the top is uppermost in most people's minds. In the thirties the hobo camps and long lines at the soup kitchens were always there. For World War II it's the airplane and in the end the atomic bomb marking the beginning of the cold war.

The Berlin wall, both the symbol of communist strength in eastern Europe and the final punctuation mark of its demise. Vietnam and helicopters are forever linked together. The Kuwait fires, twin towers, all of these events mark off the times and provide chapter divisions for history books. I can't help wondering what the future will associate with this present decade, the one still haven't come up with a name for yet.