I was walking on a bike path just south of the stadium train station here in Edmonton. It was about 8:30 in the evening; it was dark but not cold enough to make the walk unpleasant. I walk through our neighborhood almost every night to exercise and think through the day. In the nearly six years we've lived in this neighborhood, there has been a great deal of positive change. Over the last two years, our train station has undergone a significant renovation, and a brand-new condo development has brought more people into the neighborhood. As a result, I enjoy the walk much more than I did a few years ago. A lot of hard work has gone into revitalizing this part of Edmonton, and I'm grateful for it.

The trail passes just along the east side of the train station, and when I was about 50 yards away, I noticed bright flickering colors of yellow, orange, and red. The light was coming from the north side of the train station inside one of the sheltered areas where riders can keep warm while waiting for the train. Through the dark, I focused my eyes to make sure I saw correctly, and sure enough, a group of people had lit a fire on the station platform. It wasn't a massive bonfire, but it was big enough that I could see large arcs of flame from about 50 yards away. I quickly scanned the area to see if a security officer could respond and take action. There was none present.

About a dozen riders were waiting for a train on the station's south side, and I'm sure they could see the fire, but none seemed that concerned. They'd look over, see the fire, and then quickly turn away, pretending they didn't notice the problem. It was a bit surreal. There was a fire at the train station, and no one was doing anything about it! The group that lit the fire was clearly amused and was enjoying their ability to destroy property without consequence.

"I guess it's up to me," I thought as I pulled out my phone, dialed 911, and asked to speak with the fire department. I described what I could see to the dispatch attendant. I did notice that the group who lit the fire could see what I was up to, and they immediately began kicking at the fire to put it out, and then they all ran away. A fire truck approached the station minutes later, and I waved them over. The team made sure there was not any danger and prepared to return to the fire station. At that point, two security guards appeared out of nowhere. I didn't think it would be helpful to say, "don't worry, guys, I got this for you," but I felt like saying it.

Before I turned to head home, one of the firefighters thanked me for calling the incident in and sticking around until they reached the train station.

Many times in life, a problem could be evident and apparent to a group, but no one is taking action. It could be an issue at work, a broken process in an organization you volunteer with, or even a potentially dangerous situation in your neighborhood. It's also frustrating when you may not be the most equipped to deal with that problem. I'm not suggesting you put yourself in harm's way, but we've all got to get better at taking action on an issue, even if we aren't sure we can help. Maybe you need to be the one to call in some support to help resolve a problem.

For this story, some might respond by saying something along the lines of:

“People have no respect for public property. You can’t change people like that.”

“This is the provincial government’s responsibility! These are systemic issues.”

Let me suggest that if our approach to solving the issue is to judge personal behaviors, we may not be seeing the bigger picture.

On the flip side, if our approach is to sit back and philosophize about systemic issues, we’re probably rich enough to be removed from the problem and have the luxury of waiting for a problem to be solved by others. Not everyone has that luxury.

It's easy to play hot potato with problems in hopes that someone else will resolve them.

Listen, here’s the thing. No one likes to deal with problems. I’ve found that the next steps are easier to take once I accept that fact. Solving problems is challenging. Be angry and be mad for about a minute, and then get to work. I always start to feel better once I take a step forward. You will too!

Friend, thanks for reading!