A few days ago, a Sag Hampton resident I've known for years said to me, "The Long Island Railroad should be running shuttle trains in the Hamptons. There should be a train at least every half hour." I started to tell him about Five Towns Rural Transit (5TRT) and the East End Transportation Council (EETC), and the $400,000 grant from the State that those organizations got to study that very situation, but he interrupted me. "Study? What a waste of money. Why doesn't the railroad do it? It'd be a great thing, and they'd get a lot more people using the trains out here that way."

It can be hard, when you've invested a lot of time and energy into something you believe in, to remember that not everyone knows as much as you do about a subject. It's even harder to retain an open mind with regard to the ideas of people who are not fully informed. I thought it naive of my friend to think that the LIRR would respond in a meaningful way to the needs of the East End. But, does being naive make his idea a bad one? Not really. In fact, it's essentially the same idea with which Hank DeCillia, and the other fine folks at 5TRT and EETC got started. They've just refined it a bit. (OK, a lot.) After mulling it over, I had to give my friend a lot of credit for thinking about the problem, and coming up with a possible solution.

But there's another issue that still bothers me. Why didn't he know anything about Five Towns Rural Transit and their well-publicized plans to run a shuttle-train in the Hamptons? It's been written up in all the local papers; multiple times in some, and Hank's made many well-attended public presentations on the subject. Yet, the fact that other people had been thinking and working on this problem for years was news to my friend, and by extension, I'd guess a lot of other Sag Hamptonites too.

The Library Development Committee of the John Jermain Memorial Library has a similar problem. They're holding a series of public forums to discuss various aspects of the Library's planned renovation and expansion at the park. At each of these meetings there are always a few people who ask questions that have been answered countless times at previous meetings, in newspaper articles, and in information published and distributed by the Library. The effort to expand the Library at the park has been going on for years. At times it's hard to believe that there's anyone in Sag Harbor who isn't sick of hearing about it. But, somehow, there seem to be quite a few people who still don't know what's been done and why. The reason for this seems to be that it just hasn't been top of mind for them...until it is. Then they want to know the facts, to think them over, and express their thoughts and ideas. Does it matter that others have already thought about it, talked about it, explored and eliminated unworkable solutions, and put forth others that seemed to them to be more practical?  No. Not until they've had a chance to ask questions and think things through for themselves, will these latecomers be ready to test their ideas against those that have emerged from the work of others.

While this may seem like a problem crying out for a solution -- especially to those who have been working on a project or idea for a while -- there's actually nothing that can be done about it. Each of our lives has a different focus, and no power on earth can change it, until we see the need for change ourselves. We see what we're ready to see, and care about what we see when we can connect it to our lives in a meaningful way. I've cared about public transportation for a few years. Others have cared for a much longer time. My friend started caring last week. You may never care about it, and it doesn't make a whit of difference that I wish you did. Same for the library. I care deeply about the future of the Library, attend meetings and think about it often. You may not care today, but tomorrow could be different. Then you'll ask the same questions that others have asked so many time before. The good news is that you will be able to get answers to some of those questions. Some of the answers will make sense to you; some won't. That's when you'll add your ideas to the mix.

Which brings me to another question that a different acquaintance put to me not long ago. (Wisely, he didn't think I'd have the answer, he just wanted me to bring it up in the blog.) What he wanted to know was why someone, or more specifically, some group, didn't glean unharvested food from local farm fields to feed the hungry. He believes that much usable food is left to rot in many fields after the main harvest is done. I don't know if this is true or not. I don't even know if it's a good question. Maybe there's some reason it can't be done, or maybe it is being done and my friend and I just don't know it. Certainly, it's a subject to which I haven't given much thought. My friend may have a great idea, but he needs additional information from others in the community who work on farms, or who help feed those who can't feed themselves -- people who have already thought this through. If that's you, here's your invitation to share your knowledge -- not for the first time, I'm sure -- with the community. Add your thoughts in the comment box that follows this post. This is how it works.