Rough & Tumble

Today was hard, y'all. Not the worst day in the history of days, there were a lot of good things and a lot of important things that happened. Also a lot of traveling. I saw some people I love and I thought some hard thoughts.

Last night and as Pony Express and I drove North this morning we listened to reports about the bombing and subsequent shootings in Norway. Apparently over 90 people dead now and the toll may continue to climb. We heard a quote from a young man who had been at the camp and begged for his life. As with 9/11 the plan was brilliant. The Norwegian authorities deployed all their rescue forces for the bombing allowing the gunman ample time to go on his hunting expedition. With the confusion at the bomb site it was over an hour before help arrived for those campers.

This evening as we drove South first I heard about Amy Winehouse's passing. I was checking in on Facebook for the first time in about 24 hours and there were a lot of posts about that. Not so many, perhaps not even a one, about Norway. I don't mean to diminish this talented woman's death. It was the imbalance that struck me.

A little while later as we merged back onto 95 near the Long Wharf Theater we noticed traffic completely stopped in the other direction. Some people were standing on the highway and it took a moment to realize that they were gathered around a small, convertible sportscar that had flipped over, from what I could tell, end over end, not in a sideways roll. There was a woman crying. No one seemed to be doing anything. We continued to drive, as safety dictated, and I called 911. The operator answered, "911, are you calling about the roll over?" After determining that I hadn't witnessed the accident she hung up. I've been thinking about those people. Was the crying woman seeing something terrible? Had she just gotten out of the car? Had she gotten out but not her companions? Maybe she was from another car. Maybe her car had been part of the accident but not flipped. How many times have we all done something questionable in a car and gotten away with it? How close did we come to not getting away with it?

Life can be...messy you guys. At 99 degrees at 9pm  here in blessed Brooklyn I don't think it's going to get any less messy any time soon. Please, please be careful out there.