Too Bad, So Sad

When one reads the story of a 86 year old man being hit by a car while crossing the street at 2:30 am, one has to wonder what improbable set of circumstances had to have occurred, for that to happen -- and not conclude as the newspaper despairs, "That bad shit just happens -- routinely, so what is this world coming to?"

My immediate reaction, is how many pedestrians are walking about at 2:30 am, but also, how many cars are on the road at that time also -- for a fatality to have happened, to say nothing of its inevitability?

One really has to be pressing one's luck, to have to be crossing a street precisely at the time the one car on the road, is passing -- and think that is a safe maneuver to make.

When I cross the street, I try to do it when the possibility of an "accident" is not only minimal, but virtually impossible -- even in the worst case scenario, because I'm not going to trust the driver to watch out for my safety. I'm going to have to look out for my own safety first, regardless of what the other person does -- even if their intent is to deliberately injure me. It's just not going to happen -- in the first place.

You cross the street when there are no cars -- period, or when that car comes to a complete stop, with the clear intention of letting one cross safely -- and then if there are no other cars that are not fully on board with that understanding, and intent.

But when one is totally oblivious to anyone and anything else, bad things can happen. The chances of these things happening, are not random but highly probable and likely -- both good and bad. It is very important to distinguish these differences -- rather than being non-discriminatory about these things -- because they matter and make a difference, and not that non-discrimination is a virtue in itself, at all times, and in every situation. And so bad shit happens, and one feels powerless to do anything about it, but report and editorialize how life is out of control, and there is nothing one can do about it.

That is obviously a personality and culture of despair and hopelessness -- that is promoted by the media underwritten to foster such dependencies on every other but oneself -- first and foremost, and that makes the biggest difference in living one's life, and having good or bad outcomes.

A few bad things just happen -- and a few, are at that wrong place at the wrong time, but even those events, are rare -- and not the commonplace, or "could happen to anyone" -- which is the impression given. It doesn't matter whose fault it is, or who is to blame. There is something much greater that is wrong than who was right or wrong -- because there is a fundamental lack of understanding of cause and effect, and those consequences they make tragedies almost inevitable.

And beyond that, there is not to care, and not to know any difference, and want to -- and accept the catastrophes and sadness, is the way things have always been and must be. You can't design a roadway that is entirely foolproof -- when a society only produces victims in the first place. That is what is truly disturbing.