A coal train story

The small, feverish child woke up his parents in the night, wheezing and coughing violently. The parents rushed to his bedside and picked him up, pushing back the sweat-matted hair from his forehead.

“Call 911,” said the mother as she rushed to get a cool rag to put on the little boy’s brow.

The father called and asked for help from the emergency medical staff. The call went through and a reassuring message on the other end said that help was on the way to their address. They were advised to not take the child out of the home into the cold, damp, night air.

The help didn’t come and it didn’t come, held up by a more-than-one-mile-long, slow-moving train at the grade crossing nearest their home. The parents of the child finally took him out into the gathering fog to see if help was possible in a safe facility not too far away.

Is that how we want life to be like in Spokane? Is the destruction of mother Earth, toxic air, temporary jobs and stockholder profits more important than human life?

Bart Haggin

Spokane