The Parable of the Stationmaster and the Trains

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, on the anniversary of the adoption of time zones, what do you think is their greatest contribution to the world?”

Josh spoke thus:

A traveler was waiting for a train.

“What time does the train arrive?” the passenger asked the stationmaster.

“That depends on whose time you’re talking about,” the stationmaster said.

“Local time,” the passenger said.

“Our local time or their local time?” the stationmaster asked.

“Their local time, I guess,” the passenger said.

“You won’t know what time it is when you get there,” the stationmaster said.

“Don’t they have clocks there?” the passenger asked.

“They got locks of clocks there,” the stationmaster said, “But their clocks are all wrong.”

“How can all their clocks be wrong?” the passenger asked.

“They’re all on local time,” the stationmaster said, “Their local time.  And everybody knows their local time is the wrong time.”

“Why is their local time wrong?” the passenger asked.

“Because our local time is the right time, all the time,” the stationmaster said, “The train schedule says so.”

“How do you mean?” the passenger asked.

“The train schedule is written according to our time,” the stationmaster said, “If a train leaves here at six o’clock and arrives there after a two-hour trip, it arrives there at eight o’clock.  So it’s eight o’clock there when the train gets there.”

“That makes sense,” the passenger said.

“But when it gets there,” the stationmaster said, “According to local time, it’s ten after eight.”

“So why don’t they set their local time?” the passenger asked.

“Out of spite,” the stationmaster said, “Just being mean.  That, and the business advantage it gives them.”

“What business advantage?” the passenger asked.

“In business, it’s a big advantage to get things done first,” the stationmaster said.

“That’s true,” the passenger said, “But what’s their big advantage?”

“Everything they do, they do ten minutes earlier,” the stationmaster said, “Everything we do, we’re ten minutes late.”

“So why don’t you reset your time ten minutes faster?” the passenger asked.

“Because then the trains would always be ten minutes late,” the stationmaster said, “And everybody knows the trains have to be on time.”