Every respected space has its manners. In a library, silence; in a temple, humility; and in a host’s house, the courtesy of a guest. These manners are not chains; they are marks of respect — respect for the place, for others, and for oneself.
The Global Rail Network too, as a space in which millions of human beings of various cultures and beliefs are set side by side, has manners which keep travel safe and quiet and pleasant for everyone.
Let us go over these manners — not as a list of shoulds and should-nots, but as the pillars of that same dignity of which I spoke in the previous chapters.
The first courtesy is respectful dress and appearance. In a space where people of various cultures and sensibilities are gathered together, a traveller’s dress should be such as not to injure the dignity of others or the calm of the environment. The matter is not one of imposing a single taste or a single style; the matter is the avoidance of provocative or unseemly dress that disturbs the ease of others. Just as everyone chooses fitting dress for a respectable gathering, so in this shared global space the courtesy of dress is a mark of respect for the company.
The second courtesy is the cleanness of the environment from tobacco, narcotics and alcoholic drink. Here the matter is not one of personal health alone — important though that is — but of the right of others to travel in clean air and beside fellow travellers who are sober and calm. The use of tobacco pollutes the shared air; and drink and intoxicating substances take a person’s behaviour out of the rein of reason and may endanger the calm and safety of others. For this reason these have no place within the space of the network — just as they can have no place in many respected public places.
The third courtesy is the avoidance of violence, threat and aggression. This network is, before anything else, a space for connection and reconciliation; and nothing stands more opposed to that spirit than violence and threat. Any violent conduct, any harming of others, or any causing of fear and insecurity, is wholly unacceptable in this space.
And for this same reason, the carrying of weapons — whether bladed or firearm — is forbidden upon the network; exactly as in air travel no passenger may carry a weapon with him. This prohibition is not a restriction upon freedom but a guarantee of everyone’s safety; for true freedom becomes possible only in a safe space.
The fourth courtesy is the observance of the rules on luggage. Each passenger may bring with him a specified size and kind of baggage, and certain goods — particularly dangerous, inflammable or prohibited substances — may not be carried. These rules, like their counterparts in air and sea travel, exist to preserve the safety of all passengers and of the network itself, and observing them is part of the courtesy of travelling in company.
But behind all these manners lies one single principle which binds them all together: mutual respect.
Each of these rules is in truth an expression of one simple truth — that the freedom of each person extends only so far as it does no injury to the ease and dignity of another. The traveller is free in this space; but his freedom finds its meaning alongside the freedom of millions of fellow travellers. And it is this delicate balance between the freedom of the individual and the dignity of the company that brings a shared space from disorder to calm, and from tension to fellow feeling.
And perhaps the beauty of it is that when these manners are observed not out of compulsion but out of understanding and respect, they no longer seem like laws; they become a natural part of a pleasant shared experience.
The traveller who keeps this dignity of his own will perceives that these manners are not there to restrict him, but that his journey — and everyone’s journey — may be safer and calmer and more humane. And this is the very lesson that the network, without any shouting, teaches to all who pass through it.