What C ould H ave , S hould H ave ,

Would H ave Be e n

B y: M . K lo s te rm e i e r

A story of good inte ntions

What could have, should have,

would have been

M. Klostermeier

Dedicated to:Catherine Orsborn

John TiedemannSJUS 2010

One day, in a land not too far from here a train station was built.

It was built to make going into the city easier, before it was built buying groceries would be a whole day event.

In the beginning riding the train was very expensive. So much so, if there was a low crop return for the soy bean farmers, their families could not afford to ride the train every time the needed to go into the city.

When new clothes needed to be made most of the families would hop on the train and go into the city to buy the fabric that they needed. But, if there was a bad crop return the farming families would have to make do with what they already had.

If new books were needed for school, many of the families would jump on the train and go into the city. But, if there was a low crop return the farming families would need to use old or used versions of the book that they already had or the kids would go without.

A large gap grew between those who could ride the train and those who could not. This was most apparent if you would look at whom children decided to play with on the playground, or with who would receive more respect in the community.

The worst part of this situation was that the farming families had very little control over why they were not doing as well as the other people in their community. They cannot control how much water their plants will get they can only hope for the best.

The school that all of the children went to school was far from perfect. This was largely due to the lack of funding that the school received, the largest amount of money that the school received was from taxes paid by farmers, which was never that much money.

Many of the wealthier children decided to go to school in the city where they could get a better education. They could do this now of course because of the new train that they could afford to use everyday.

As time went on, many of the wealthier children went to college and became successful in all of the ways that they imagined possible. While the poorer children who did not have access to the same opportunities as the wealthier children, watched many of their dreams fade away.

It is really interesting how the train, something that was meant to be so helpful, has been really helpful for some people, but has made other people’s lives a lot harder.