Post IV: Site Observation

I visited Union College here in Lincoln. As I walked around the campus, in and out of the various buildings, there were a few aspects of this college that stood out to me. First, this college was a very small college. It was just over one thousand students and that was the biggest student body that Union had had for 24 years. The campus itself was also very small. It only had a few buildings with classrooms in them, and a mere two dorms. The sidewalks weren’t crowded with students flying around on their bikes in order to get to class in time. Actually, everyone strolls around at a leisurely pace because there’s no hurry; most of the classrooms are right next door to each other.

Another thing that I noticed about Union College was that it was a very peaceful place. As I said before there was no rushing around. There was no chaos. Everyone at Union seemed to know one another and just be really relaxed. It was nice to be around that kind of atmosphere. Sometimes we all need a break from freaking out about this and that, and just take a moment and relax. Sometimes we just need to slow things down and take a deep breath, and then we can move on again. It’s important that we don’t stress ourselves out because then we will not perform up to our potential.

As I visited Union College all these thoughts came into my head. It was interesting to me because then I was able to see that I, myself, had been wearing myself out about a whole lot of little things. I learned from this experience that worrying doesn’t solve anything. Rather, it’s more important to keep a cool head and just breathe, rather than go crazy about everything that needs to be done. It’s smart to think about the things that need to be accomplished, but it’s not smart to worry about them.

Post III: Response to a Local Article

I read an article that was about the city of Lincoln proceeding with the plan to install a second “quiet zone” so that trains will no longer have to use their horns to signal that they are coming. I believe that this is a good idea. Personally I hate the constant bellow of train horns. It’s extremely disrupting and in my own opinion, can take away from the peace and serenity in the atmosphere of a good day. Another reason that I like this idea is that, according to the article the city will beef up security around the train tracks in the area of the quiet zone. I believe that this is a great idea. There can never be enough security around train tracks. Too often someone doesn’t even pay attention to the tracks and races over them without a second glance. They don’t realize, however, that there is a train approaching. The end result is generally not a pleasant one and ends in the driver of the car meeting his or her demise.

This is obviously not the ending that anybody wants. So I believe that it would be extremely beneficial to the entire population of the city of Lincoln that this quit zone is put into place because I believe that it will also cut down on the number of railroad accidents in the Nebraska. The number of accidents in Nebraska has already been cut down in 2006. In 2005, the number of accidents was 122 and in 2006, the number was 90. That means that the number of railroad accidents has already been cut down by thirty-two.

I think that this number can drop even farther with the addition of more quiet zones. Extra security equals less of a chance of people making mistakes at railroad crossings. That means there will be fewer accidents and fewer fatalities. Quiet zones are good things, and I can’t wait till until they are placed all throughout Lincoln.