Sunday, August 14, 2011

Who Do I Thank for Life?

After having good conversation with my brother--who is the blogger of Incongruous Circumspection--and a couple of fickle (on my part) friends, I have some serious matters to sort through in retrospect of a frightening incident I experienced today. Some "what ifs" have come to the forefront of my meanderings, and though they aren't musical in nature, I could easily sing about how I feel--in fact I'm doing just that, as you continue to read.

I witnessed a rollover today on the highway, right in front of me! A Honda SUV was on the opposite, oncoming side of the grassy divide, and somehow the driver swerved onto and over the grassy divide coming into my lane. There were several cars ahead of me, going 65mph, and this SUV flipped, and rolled over across the path of all these cars, not hitting a single one! Then it bounced back upright on the far shoulder, completely clear of any further danger. The female driver was okay, as well as the young adult male passenger. Their belongings had flown out of the windows all over that stretch of the highway, however, they were okay. After I called, first-responding police and firemen arrived and were assessing the situation.

There I was, an observer of an accident that I had nothing to do with, yet what if...? What if I had been driving slightly faster. What if I had left from home two seconds earlier? What if this vehicle had run right into me, or I'd run into it? Had I not been paying attention, I would've done just that.

Who do I have to thank, that they're okay, that I'm okay, that everyone who possibly could've been involved in a potentially fatal crash, are okay. Don't I have somebody to thank? Can't I thank anyone? Or is it all just happenstance, just chance that it worked out the way it did? And is it even a positive outcome that nobody was fatally wounded, that no one died? Can I even consider that as something to be happy about?

Had they died in that accident, I would still be happy that I'm alive, but I'd be sorrowful that they're dead. And towards who would I be angry for their death? Would their death be chance? Either way, if the outcome had been good for me and bad for them, or good for them and bad for me, to whom would I give my gratitude, or my hard feelings? Can I include god in this picture? Is god even actively involved in this situation? Do I have any proof that I was saved, that others were saved from further harm? Do I have proof that god was giving us a second chance at life, showing mercy in a greater way than we had ever seen it? Would something finally click, that one of us had heard or experienced before this incident, and now that we have survived a potentially fatal crash, it would ring truer in one of our minds, so much that we would give thanks to god for our very life that we can still hold onto and enjoy for its remainder?

The only way I can see it as a positive outcome is if I include God and his protecting of us. Without him, there was no one actively protecting us, or even knowing the outcome. It's all up to chance, and therefore it could even be a negative that the crash even happened, that the Honda SUV even swerved off of the right path on the highway, that the vehicle is totaled, and that they might be slightly injured or their progress in life was delayed. There are a lot of seemingly negative outcomes, but the positive outcome of the driver and passenger simply being alive seems to outweigh all of the negative repercussions of getting in the crash in the first place.

So why is it a positive thing that they're simply still alive? What do they have to live for now that they didn't have to live for before the crash? And would something good have been ended, had they died? I think all life is good. The fact that people are alive is good, wether they do harm or good. The fact that they're alive is good because they still have a chance to help others, and to make inroads into others' lives for making a change for the better, creating a greater sense of a loving community.

2 comments:

  1. Wow. Glad you're alright. My life is brighter just knowing that fact today.

    Thanks for all the questions. They provide good perspective and introspection.

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  2. Good thing you chatted with me the other day, I.C., otherwise such meanderings might not have made it to this page. I see your input as valuable to my perspective, because I can't keep a blind eye towards the reality of a situation. Thanks, bro, for keeping it real.

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