The End of the Line
(variations on a theme)
Title
The End of the Line
(variations on a theme)
(variations on a theme)
Identifier
The_end_of_the_line
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"How many times have I heard the depressing expression: 'I have (or someone has) come to the end of the line.' "
Date
2016-01-09
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Text
THE END OF THE LINE
(variations on a theme)
How many times have I heard the depressing expression: “I have (or someone has) come to the end of the line.” Actually, I suspect it was not more than a half dozen times, but the expression has been around for a long time, and it suggests that I (or someone) will soon expire. We have run out of track. There are no more stops. This is it. Last stop, everybody off,
It is, in effect, a death sentence, especially if it is said with medical authority. The doctor posing as a train conductor, announcing the final station. The analogy of one’s life as a train ride got me to thinking. Lots of train stations, at the end of the line, often link up to buses. Why can’t someone get off the train and take a bus? And there are almost always taxicabs waiting at the train station. Why not grab a cab?
Suppose, before we come to the end of the line, the Transportation Authority extends the line. Many lines start by serving the downtown business district, and then are extended to residential areas, and even to the suburbs. However, if we think of ourselves as the line, not as a passenger on the line, then what we are extending is the life of the line itself, by preventive maintenance and repairs. Some of us, when coming to the end, are able to extend our lives with replacements and repairs: knees, hips, internal organs, having previously added hearing aids, glasses, canes and a variety of medications.
Another way of looking at the expression “the end of the line” is the actual end of the line at a theatre, bank, or store. Not a metaphor. When you come to the end of the line, if it is a long line, you may either leave or reconcile yourself to waiting, which may make you anxious. Will you get whatever it is that brought you to the line, or will they be sold out? How long will you have to wait? If there is more than one line, should you have gotten on the other line? And most important of all: Are you standing ON line or IN line?
For some people, lines have the potential of posing an ethical question. If they see someone they know standing on (in) line, they might go over, start a conversation, and simply stand alongside that person, giving the impression that the person was saving a place for them. They then simply move along with their friend. Few people behind them will challenge this brazen act.
When I was in junior high school (all boys), it was prestigious to be at the end of the line. Teachers lined up their students by height: the shortest first, the tallest last. And that is the way we lined up for our graduation picture, which hangs prominently on the wall near my desk. It was taken in June 1942. I was 14 ½, and was not going to grow much more. I was in the fourth of five rows, the 10th tallest of 35 students, between Mel Schulman and Milton Hollander. The tallest, Norman Lowy, stood proudly at “the end of the line.” I believe in other schools, including college, we were lined up alphabetically, and anyone whose name began with Z was at “the end of the line.” Then, as if there was a stigma attached to being at the end of the line, some teachers would alternate, so those whose names began with A were at the end of the line.
Another line that comes to my mind when I hear the expression “the end of the line” is the end of a picket line. We used to sing, “On the line, on the line, on the picket, on the picket line. We’ll sing and yell and shout like hell, on the picket, on the picket line.” We might be picketing for union recognition, for a new contract, to protest discrimination, war, you name it. If it is a well-organized picket line, there are signs, a picket line captain, and someone leading the singing, yelling and shouting. And since the cops want us to march in a circle, there is no “end of the line.” You join by stepping into the line, and when you have marched enough or the captain has decided that we will call an end to the line, we pack up our signs and leave. That is the real end of the line. Until next time. And hopefully, you are still capable of joining lots more lines for lots of good causes.
PS I was about to end this piece. I had come to the end of the line, when I decided to Google the phrase. Of course, there were lots of other definitions and usages: A documentary of the same name about over-fishing; a country song with a railroad beat etc. And anyone, when drawing a line, has to eventually come to the end of the line.
1-9-16
(variations on a theme)
How many times have I heard the depressing expression: “I have (or someone has) come to the end of the line.” Actually, I suspect it was not more than a half dozen times, but the expression has been around for a long time, and it suggests that I (or someone) will soon expire. We have run out of track. There are no more stops. This is it. Last stop, everybody off,
It is, in effect, a death sentence, especially if it is said with medical authority. The doctor posing as a train conductor, announcing the final station. The analogy of one’s life as a train ride got me to thinking. Lots of train stations, at the end of the line, often link up to buses. Why can’t someone get off the train and take a bus? And there are almost always taxicabs waiting at the train station. Why not grab a cab?
Suppose, before we come to the end of the line, the Transportation Authority extends the line. Many lines start by serving the downtown business district, and then are extended to residential areas, and even to the suburbs. However, if we think of ourselves as the line, not as a passenger on the line, then what we are extending is the life of the line itself, by preventive maintenance and repairs. Some of us, when coming to the end, are able to extend our lives with replacements and repairs: knees, hips, internal organs, having previously added hearing aids, glasses, canes and a variety of medications.
Another way of looking at the expression “the end of the line” is the actual end of the line at a theatre, bank, or store. Not a metaphor. When you come to the end of the line, if it is a long line, you may either leave or reconcile yourself to waiting, which may make you anxious. Will you get whatever it is that brought you to the line, or will they be sold out? How long will you have to wait? If there is more than one line, should you have gotten on the other line? And most important of all: Are you standing ON line or IN line?
For some people, lines have the potential of posing an ethical question. If they see someone they know standing on (in) line, they might go over, start a conversation, and simply stand alongside that person, giving the impression that the person was saving a place for them. They then simply move along with their friend. Few people behind them will challenge this brazen act.
When I was in junior high school (all boys), it was prestigious to be at the end of the line. Teachers lined up their students by height: the shortest first, the tallest last. And that is the way we lined up for our graduation picture, which hangs prominently on the wall near my desk. It was taken in June 1942. I was 14 ½, and was not going to grow much more. I was in the fourth of five rows, the 10th tallest of 35 students, between Mel Schulman and Milton Hollander. The tallest, Norman Lowy, stood proudly at “the end of the line.” I believe in other schools, including college, we were lined up alphabetically, and anyone whose name began with Z was at “the end of the line.” Then, as if there was a stigma attached to being at the end of the line, some teachers would alternate, so those whose names began with A were at the end of the line.
Another line that comes to my mind when I hear the expression “the end of the line” is the end of a picket line. We used to sing, “On the line, on the line, on the picket, on the picket line. We’ll sing and yell and shout like hell, on the picket, on the picket line.” We might be picketing for union recognition, for a new contract, to protest discrimination, war, you name it. If it is a well-organized picket line, there are signs, a picket line captain, and someone leading the singing, yelling and shouting. And since the cops want us to march in a circle, there is no “end of the line.” You join by stepping into the line, and when you have marched enough or the captain has decided that we will call an end to the line, we pack up our signs and leave. That is the real end of the line. Until next time. And hopefully, you are still capable of joining lots more lines for lots of good causes.
PS I was about to end this piece. I had come to the end of the line, when I decided to Google the phrase. Of course, there were lots of other definitions and usages: A documentary of the same name about over-fishing; a country song with a railroad beat etc. And anyone, when drawing a line, has to eventually come to the end of the line.
1-9-16
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “The End of the Line
(variations on a theme),” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed March 22, 2025, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/422.
(variations on a theme),” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed March 22, 2025, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/422.