Comments on: in an honest moment

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:25:11 +0000

These situations are really impossible. There was a metro crash here in LA several months ago and it was the fault of the operator who was distracted sending text messages. Several people died, including the operator and one of the students in my community. In that case, there was a clear person to blame, but I didn’t feel right about it not only because he was dead, but because it’s not fair that one mistake had such a tragic effect. I’ve made a million mistakes like that. We all have.

Someone was just telling me about that the other day. And you’re right it isn’t fair. It’s easier to blame a system than it is one person.

By: unstranger

unstranger — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:13:05 +0000

Good blog

By: Suburban Sweetheart

Suburban Sweetheart — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:21:10 +0000

It’s tough when there’s no one to blame, and it’s tough when death comes so quickly there’s no way to predict or expect it. I think it’s even tougher when these to combine.

Yes. Combined it just… it’s like an incomplete puzzle.

By: JoLee

JoLee — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:37:20 +0000

So, so sad. Things like this should NOT happen. It gives me a tummy ache.

I’m so glad you commute the other way.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:35:36 +0000

Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your site and wanted to say
that I have really liked reading your blog posts. Anyway
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!

By: alice

alice — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:49:14 +0000

I think one reason it’s harder for us to reconcile an accident like this – as opposed to the shooting, for example – is that there’s no REASON for it to have happened. granted, “off-balance old fucker shot up the place” isn’t a GOOD reason for the other one, but it still explains why the loss of life occured. here we’re forced to effectively shrug our shoulders and just accept that things happen, which is somehow harder to stomach.

Exactly. That other scenario isn’t a good reason, but it somehow fits better, despite how utterly hateful it was.

By: Titania

Titania — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:48:22 +0000

Apparently, as reported by the Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/06/23/ST2009062300980.html ) the car that crashed was 2 months overdue for breaks maintenance – maybe it shouldn’t, as maybe this was not the reason why this happened, but this makes me furious

Me, too. That’s exactly the kind of thing that bothers me.

By: lacochran

lacochran — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:57:57 +0000

Just because it wasn’t intentional doesn’t mean it was unavoidable.

I’m more interested in why you felt differently in the two situations. I’m not sure I’ve read that yet.

Because I know hate. I know that there’s no way we can possibly police every hateful, deliberate person with intentions to do harm. But oversights and lapses are harder. Maybe the brakes just didn’t work. That makes this an accident and I know that accidents are inevitable. But the earliest reports are that recommendations were made but either ignored or rejected because there was no funding. A lack of funding is hard to accept. It suggests the problem was an administrative one. That means the phone call to a victim’s family doesn’t say it was “a freak accident,” but “the system was dated and malfunctioned because while it needed to be updated, no one had approved the necessary money to do so.”

By: Titania

Titania — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:31:30 +0000

I think I know exactly how you feel, I had a similar reaction, what I kept repeating to myself over and over again was “how in the world did this happen?” “how is it possible?”

I know. It seems like there was some sort of malfunction that could’ve been avoided.

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:05:52 +0000

Great post, as usual. The first thing that happens when something like this occurs is that we all question what would happen if we didn’t make it out of that particular situation ourselves. Or someone we love. And that might be harder than anything else.

Yeah. I’m just trying to imagine getting the phone call that a lack of funding for brakes or something meant my [someone] isn’t coming home.