"Guardians of the Rail"

"Haight is the sort of man who likes to bully bullies and has so many tattoos on his neck — including the names of his wife and two sons — that he jokes he doesn’t have room for any more. He is also one of the crossing guards who monitors the train tracks at the Churchill and Alma intersection, right next to Palo Alto High School, where he graduated in the Class of 1996.

The train guards work for Val Security, a private security firm commissioned by the City of Palo Alto to watch over the tracks since 2011. So far, the city manager has spent $133,000 on an emergency contingent of train guards this year. In April,  the city council earmarked $175,000 to effectively continue the guards’ presence into the summer months, though the longevity of this arrangment remains to be seen...

One time, Rodriguez noticed a kid loitering by the tracks late at night, who admitted, when pressed, that he had recently gone through a family dispute.

“The truth is, you know all you’re going to do is depress your whole family,” Rodriguez told him. “You’re going to ruin everyone else’s life because you’re going to be gone. Everyone else here is going to be thinking of you. Missing you. And you’re going to be gone.”

Later, the kid passed by with his friends and didn’t say a word to Rodriguez. He came back alone and tapped Rodriguez on the shoulder and said, “Thank you.” Rodriguez nodded. And then the kid left."
http://verdemagazine.com/guardians-of-the-rail

So proud of the journalism at my high school.