There are things in life that are inevitable. The end of a beloved TV show (damn you CBS! God bless, and God rest, "The King Of Queens"), any kind of object on the side of the road that every idiot in the state has to slow to 4 mph to see (hey, it's a fender bender, not the lost treasure of Ramses the Great) and tragedy.
No matter where we look, no matter what we do or when we do it, tragedy will happen. It's like fights in a relationship...okay, it's not exactly like that, but my point is that tragedy is inevitable. The only way to avoid it, is to pray we're not there when it happens, and to pray our loved ones aren't there either.
No tragedy is ever a good thing, and I am not saying that it is. I'm simply stating that it's going to happen whether we like it or not. We can avoid it, prevent it, but we can't stop it. If not to us, or in our city, it'll happen somewhere else.
As I write this, a part of me cringes. Not because it's tough to write (although it is), but because I feel I am doing a dishonor to the victim's memories. That is not now, nor will it ever be, my intention. I am simply trying to vent some feelings on my mind.
That said as much as it makes ALL of us cry, wince, and cringe: rivers rise, streets flood, buildings fall, and bridges collapse. It happens. It's a part of life, and one that truly horrifies us.
The trick is to learn from what happened, protect ourselves, and move on. We all can move on, and we all will. We need to be strong for ourselves, for others around us, and for the victims. They wouldn't our lives to end, because theirs did.
I don't know those victims, but I'm sure if presented with the option of their loved ones becoming happy again or collapsing in depression and isolation, they'd choose prosperity.
We all need to grieve, and we all must, but it's only one step in the process of sustaining their memory. Grief is the heart's and mind's focus and the absence of someone or something beloved.
The someone or something and their memories are actually very happy things. As you reflect on them, you find yourself smiling and probably tearing up a bit.
Greif is yours. It's your mind and your heart focusing on the absence of a loved one. The smiles and happiness from their memories is the victim's. It is them living on in all of us.
Death is not an end, it's a pause. A pause so short we don't even realize it. Grief is a normal process to life, but it clouds our minds to the fact that the people we love, those we miss, are still around us.
They always will be. They feel our hearts thump when we fall in love. They see our minds race at the realization of our dreams (no matter how big or small), and they bask in the shine of our souls when we smile.
The only thing that is lost is the victims physical body. Everything the were as a person, they still are. Everything we loved about them, still exists. They exist within us, and are part of: every smile, every laugh, every kiss and every hug.
We will all deal with loss and tragedy in what ever way is acceptable to us, but we must be allowed to deal with it on our own.
There is a fine line between reporting a story for the information and attempt to assure people that the tragedy is being dealt with as best as possible, and sucking at the sump pump of sensationalism for the soulless desire for ratings.
I speak, of course, of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Which has turned this city's news stations into shameless, soulless, insensitive pricks...capable of, and willing to, trample the very notion of decency by spitting on and desecrating the memories of each and every victim.
With every: sob story (I don't mean that in a negative light), melodramatic musical funeral sonata, and endless replay of the same footage, they are not only attempting to make us sad, they're pushing us further into a bottomless depression.
They further force this depression on us with....telling us shit we already know. For example (and these are things I actually heard):
1. It was a typical bumper to bumper rush hour. ("Typical," huh? Those aren't Match Box cars out there, they're people. Just like you and I. Someone at home loves them. Treat them with a little decency and respect!)
2. So...there was a lot of weight and stress on the bridge. (There's a lot of weight and stress on a bridge every damn day! It's not a museum exhibit. You build a bridge some where, some one will drive over it.)
3. Hundreds of people were on their way home from work. (How do you know that? Maybe some of them where going TO work. Maybe a few buddies were going to a strip club, and MAYBE someone might have been on their way to a romantic dinner to propose. You don't know. None of us do. Stop blanketing everyone under one statement.)
And my personal favorite....
4. It had had cracks in it for some time.
Cracks?! It had cracks in it?! Holy crap! You mean to tell me a: man made, reinforced, and apparently inspected object WASN'T invincible?! Well, jesus! There goes everything I've believed in right down the crapper! My whole life's a lie now.
We are not now, nor we will ever be, invincible. Nothing we create, build, or conceive will ever be invincible. Do you know why it will never be that way?? NATURE! Things break down, bodies wear, cars rust, and mother nature erodes.
We are not masters of this planet. It is master of us. It is our home, but we are here because it lets us be here. We have screwed with it long enough...maybe we should listen when it screws with us. We have taken, pillaged, and raped this planet for centuries, can we really blame it for taking from us.
I'm not advocating disasters, or implying that the loss of humanity is a good thing, I'm simply saying that we have to listen to our planet. It's trying to talk to us. Earth doesn't need us. We need it. But for some reason, it wants us. If we respect it and work with it, it will respect us and help us.
And the weather that it's always had, since long before we were here, breaks things down...and then, rebuilds them. As human beings, it is nature to be compassionate to one another. I have witnessed in times of tragedy, the innate fact that we all pull together to survive and live on.
In summation: to think that we can construct anything that is invincible, or the largest of its kind without issue, is foolish and borderline psychosis. We as human beings do not have a right to something simply because it can be done. This is not our planet, it does not belong to us. We belong to it. And when ever we get cocky, maybe we need to be "slapped back in line." Mother Nature effects everything. It will all wear, crack, and tear. We may be able to prevent some of it for a little while, but we can not stop it. It is the natural order of things. Simply by creating something, you are assuring it's demise.
But life will rebound. Love will blossom again, and smiles will abound. Behind every dark cloud, there is the sun. Every sadness, will be joy once again. In life, as in everything, it is not the beginning or the end that matters, it is journey in between that makes everyday worth living.
And if the leader of this country ever visits your state, tell him to "get the hell out!" You don't need him, you never will. You'll all do damn good on your own. He neglected New Orleans, and ignored New York...he won't give a damn about you!
Like Morgan Freeman said in "Deep Impact:" "Cities fall...but they are rebuilt. And heroes die...but they are remembered. We honor them with every brick we lay....with every field we sow....with every child we comfort and then teach to rejoice in what we have been re-given. Our home. So now...let us begin."
En Memoriam: Those lost in the collapse of the I-35W Bridge. God be with you all. Rest in peace.
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