Shaken

I've never been a direct witness to an accident quite this serious. It's strange the tricks that your mind plays with you. I've asked myself if I thought I could have caught her, or even just reduced the impact. Foremost, I've asked, what if?

I was in the first row on the balcony when it happened. I heard the snap of aluminum on aluminum over the music. That pop was a sound I know well from using a caribeaner for a keychain. The sound of the gate snapping shut. I saw the light shine for a moment against the oval metal of the caribeaner at her waste. In my mind I knew something had happened, and things were not right. Immediately, I thought of standing up and shouting "STOP!", as if somehow things would have frozen in time had I done that. For a brief second it seemed so clear, this was what should be done.

Moments behind that thought came the doubts. They crept into my head, surely I was wrong. How stupid would I look in front of several thousand people attempting to stop a show because I thought I'd seen something. They rehearsed over and over and I don't even know what the next movement is going to be anyway. Surely, they know just what they're doing.

Just as those thoughts became clear, she leaned back. She trusted her equipment and practice, something every performer does. In this case though, the harness was no longer attached to the rope, and she fell. It's surreal to remember. It's worse to think that somehow I had an idea that something was wrong and didn't act.

What Happened?

What has happened to our country? My own childhood doesn't seem that long ago, when my parents taught me to be responsible for my own actions, my triumphs and defeats. I studied in school, or I received the grades I deserved, and usually some discomfort at home to go along with them. I learned to budget with an allowance, and later a job in high school, sometimes two.

Fast forward some 20 years later. Somehow people who were elected to office have decided that I should pay to prop up everything from my neighbors mortgage on a house he should have never been loaned the money to buy (read be trapped in), to the banks that figured they'd make up for all the bad loans with volume. How crazy is it that the bank and borrowers can't sit down and figure out something reasonable that they can both live with?

Now it seems the auto industry needs more cash to stay afloat. When they get it (no sense saying if), I suspect the airlines will be next, then home builders, entertainment companies, and anyone else that still has a business here.

I'm left feeling like there's a systemic problem with businesses today. I would kill to know the personal finances of the people that lead these companies into this mess. Are they savvy enough in their personal lives to keep their own finances in reasonable order? Do they have a rainy day fund for when the furnace goes out or the car needs a repair, or are they drowning in credit card debt to finance that vacation to Fiji last fall? At least from where I sit, they appear to be making a pretty good living running companies into the ground without what seems to be the most elementary skill imaginable, the ability to realize you shouldn't spend what you have.

Perhaps the bigger question is...
Why aren't more people upset about it, or if they are as is sometimes claimed, why don't the people that were elected to represent them seem to hear?

In the beginning...

Everything has a start, this is mine. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to ramble about in this medium. Might be politics, might be popular culture, might be just about anything. Rest assured though that it'll keep you coming back for more.