April 8, 2009 - 11:50 am
Yesterday, I was a little late leaving the house. When I pulled out onto the main road on my way to work, I immediately saw that oncoming traffic was being blocked at the top of the hill. I drove cautiously, not knowing what to expect.
I get really angry when people rubber-neck at accidents, thus slowing traffic for no good reason other than ghoulish curiosity. Thus, I try really hard not to do the same thing. Still, I couldn’t help but see the white SUV leaning oddly against a tree just off the road, crumpled on every side. A rollover. Sitting at the next light, I saw in my mirror the Care Flight helicopter landing. Scary. I said a quick prayer.
As I continued my commute, my brain in neutral, I wondered about the wreck. How could that truck have rolled right there. There was no intersection. The speed limit is only 45, not fast enough to take a full-sized SUV all the way over. The shoulder there is steep, with a good sized drop off were new pavement was added. I knows this well since I’ve ridden my bike over it a hundred times. Maybe he wasn’t paying attention, dropped off the ledge and over-corrected. Still, must have been speeding on top of that. Hmm.
Then my thoughts turned to empathy. What hidden danger could turn my life upside down on an average, mundane Tuesday morning? Something as simple has fiddling with the radio volume or glancing at the clock. It only takes a fraction of a second for someone to step out in front of you, a careless cyclist to shoot into traffic, or the car ahead to have a mechanical failure. Then… BAM! Life happens.
I read on the news (yeah, I know. Surfing at work. Shame.) about that mornings incident. A 75-year-old man and an unknown driver in a black Nissan seemed to be chasing each other, weaving through traffic. The old man lost control, rolled, ejected, and died. The headline reads, “Aggressor Dies in Road Rage Crash.” BAM! Life happened… and ended.
That evening, almost home, I saw the puddle of glass on the shoulder, the bruised and broken tree. The fragility of life washed over me. Treat every day with care. Treat every relationship with love. Treat every opportunity with relish. Because you never know when life will happen to you.
BAM!