The Rifleman  

Even if the ship is sinking, there’s nothing to say you can’t have fun while you’re saving it.

Heck, even the saving of it - the bailing - offers a satisfaction that’s close to joy.

But in this case, to make the irony of it more pointed, let’s change the analogy a bit.

From a sinking ship, to a train traveling down a track.

Sure, the train is hell-bound - need I say?

Only, you don’t know it. Nor, seemingly, does anyone else on the train.

All is frolicking and jollity.

The big-screen TV is bigger than anything you’ve seen before, bigger than any you can get for your home.

The chip bowl is always filled - and is that the super bowl in progress up on that big screen?

And, say, is that Elton John, playing?

Say, this is nice - Heaven, even (only it isn’t - it’s neither Heaven nor Hell).

So the train rockets along, swaying a bit, but none of the passengers, engaged in 24/7 fun and games, seems to mind - or care.

Party. Party. Party.

Each in his own way.

The gamblers.

The drunks.

The slackers.

The slothers. (Or should I say, “men of sloth”?)

The workaholics.

The avoid-any-commitment-at-any-cost crowd (lots of them, for sure!).

Now, to keep the analogy straight and true, you’ll have to assume there are some people on the train who know “what’s what” - know where the train is destined - and don’t want to see the train to go to Hell.

So, they’re out there, turning the brake wheels, trying to first slow it down, then stop it - then replace the crew who so negligently allowed the train on the wrong track, going in the wrong direction, in the first place - and trying to get at least some of the passengers to wake up, and understand that, just because it’s the largest plasma screen they’ve ever seen, and both the Superbowl and Elton John (by the way, he’s not playing too badly!) are on-screen, the train is NOT Heaven, nor Heaven-bound, nor certainly going anywhere near it.

Because stopping the train - thousands of tons of it - is a task for more than a few - and, so far, a few is all we have.

Hence, Appleseed.

But we have fun, whenever possible, doing it.

Yes, you can have fun, saving the train.

This is 21st-century America, no point in doing it any other way.

No pain, no real sacrifice (a weekend a month looks pretty good compared with months at Valley Forge, freezing and starving).

Yep, we should be ashamed.

But again, this is 21st-century America - no need for shame, these days…

How about you? Enjoying the big TV?

Or working to save the train?

Tough choice.

I know it.

Even as I tell you, saving the train is not work. It’s not even a bother. It’s a challenge. And it’s fun.

Come out on the Appleseed Trail, and see for yourself.

Just bring a few with you - friends, relatives, co-workers, neighbors, family - you name it - I don’t care who and how you pick - just bring some with you.

That way, you have people to talk to on the way home - about the Appleseed, about how YOU did, about how THEY did.

And when you get home, you’re not alone, anymore.

You have some Appleseed friends with you.

And, sure enough, you find one Appleseed friend is better than ALL the friends you had before…