The horrible news in Minneapolis sends a shiver through the spines of anyone who ever drove a car on any bridge in America; or even if you rode in on. When science and engineering fails humanity and leaves the families and friends in a desperate search to find out who will not be making it to dinner on a given night; it is not a pretty though to ponder.
I live several thousands of miles away from the collapsed I-35W bridge in Minneapolis but just the very idea that it could have been anyone (including me) forces you to contemplate the fragile nature of life itself.
For my friends who live on MTV and BET and all the news you know is what Sal Masakela tells you on MTV between “Date my Mom” , “NEXT” and “ Top 10 Countdown”, Ill catch you up to speed- (just thank me later). By the way, Beyonce's new CD is not the idea of current affairs and news events that I am talking about.
A bridge that collapsed over the Mississippi river, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Tuesday morning. At least four people are confirmed dead with up to 30 missing. US officials are not linking the collapse to terrorism. Of course the issue is not how many people are dead or alive, but rather the fact that it could happen anywhere, any day and to anyone. Now whichever angle you analyze it, that calls for some serious thinking.
“Some 50 vehicles were hurled into the water, local hospitals said they treated 79 people, mainly broken bones and head and spinal injuries, and rescue officials said they expected the death toll to rise”. According to experts (especially those who spring out of nowhere in the wake of events like these), ‘attention on its ageing infrastructure, particularly bridges’. Please tell me something I don’t already know.
The point is, the bridge needed fixing, but there probably was no urgency to fix it until it actually broke; - just like anything else in America. Not surprisingly, the hindsight experts do their best work after-the-fact with their interesting analysis. Give me a break.
The only relieving thought is the report that the 40-year-old I-35W highway bridge was being repaired at the time of the collapse. I live in Houston, and I have come to know it as “Construction City”, because it apparently is notorious for reconstructing what ever project it just constructed a second ago; but now I know why.
Our hearts go out to the people on Minneapolis and especially the families who are directly affected by this horrible accident. In the meantime the finger pointing game is in full swing, from state to federal, all the way down to the White House but whoever had the responsibility to assess the bridge’s capacity to withstand the pressures of life, needs to start filing for unemployment tomorrow. Donald Trump will say, ‘you’re fired’.
Either way, the only place I want to see huge chunks of concrete crash 64 feet into the water and people actually falling into the Mississippi river, is in any Steven Spielberg movie, not in real life.
My point is it could happen anywhere, any day and to anyone. Yet again, I’m just thinking aloud
0 comments:
Post a Comment