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Saturday, September 15, 2007
learning from being dumb; crashing into reality
Well sometimes the world is easy to bump into. Today I learned an important lesson about distractions. I crashed my car into another car because I was not paying enough attention. Nobody was hurt. My car was totaled and his was mucked up in the front a little. My freedom of travel will be reigned in a bit (it's OK I like the bus) and the following things were shocked back into me: People are more often kind and forgiving than not. The gentleman I hit didn't scream at me for being such a knucklehead, a total stranger stopped his car in the middle of a busy intersection to help, and all along the process people were nice. Over and over I heard, "that's why they call it an accident".
Accepting responsibility and taking the consequences of your actions is incredibly important, free-ing, and swallowing pride is good sometimes. I'll be paying a ticket for running a red.
We move too fast in this world. Sometimes the world will slow us down.
This happens too often. Would that I looked a little more carefully at the road and thought less about the things I had to do.
The sculptures of John Chamberlain will never look the same.
True friends are the ones who pick you up and dust you off. Thanks Kerry, thanks John.
Drive safely and know that I will too, once I'm ready to buckle in again. Mercifully no one was hurt. No one was hurt. Phew. No one was hurt.
Rachael
Posted at 10:23 pm by balduffington
 | | | Andrew
October 27, 2007 12:53 PM PDT
I rear-ended a large pickup truck and totaled my car on Memorial Day. The pickup truck's brake lights were not working and I realized too late it wasn't moving. Thankfully I was wearing my seatbelt (I always do) because my airbags did not deploy and I surely would have been otherwise ejected from the car through the windshield and into the tailgate of the pickup. Or I at least would have replaced my teeth with a steering wheel. It's not easy to eat with a steering wheel for teeth. And this was not a highway or high speed crash either. I was just on my way down a local road with some traffic lights (speed limit 35) heading to Lowes. These things can happen anywhere and anytime. That's the scary thing. So please everyone wear a seatbelt all the time. But occasionally, these moments do point out valuable lessons: our cars and our stuff don't really matter. If we survive and are well and nobody was hurt, then we should be thankful. It's easier to forgive than we sometimes think.
And sometimes these cloudy spots have shiny silver linings. The person whose truck I hit drove away and left the scene of the accident immediately. That saved me from being cited and getting points on my license/insurance because the police treated it as a hit and run, even though I did the hitting. Then my insurance company totaled the car and gave me a nice size check because my car was worth much more than I still owed. Cha-ching! That means I was able to trade up and buy a slightly used, safer (electronic stability control, anti-lock brakes, and like ten airbags--seriously!) AND somewhat more luxurious (leather seats, great sound system, quiet highway ride) car that is even more appropriate for the family I hope to start soon. And my monthly payments are less!! Can't beat that with a stick.
P.S.
Omg: I'm so bourgois, it makes me sick. Well, at least I can drown out the sound of my social conscience with my kick ass sound system, bee-otch!! | |
| | | Name
October 3, 2007 01:39 PM PDT
I drove my bike smack into the back of a parked truck once, I know how it happens. | |
| | | Rich Rostrom
October 2, 2007 12:52 PM PDT
Two months ago I blacked out behind the wheel (in broad daylight, cold sober - I have narcolepsy issues). I veered across the road at 55 MPH, and ended up in the trees with the car on its side. I was not hurt, which was good. What I am really grateful for is that no one else was injured or suffered damage. I will never drive again.
If I had killed or crippled somebody, I don't know that I could live with it.
Until you know that you can and do drive safely, don't drive - unless you are prepared with the sort of guilt that comes from putting a 15-year-old boy in a wheelchair for life.
It's like a reverse lottery: you get a small reward, while taking a chance on a huge catastrophe. | |
| | | priya
September 29, 2007 01:37 AM PDT
why don't we see your beautiful paintings on your blog anymore??? | |
| | | Deb L.
September 16, 2007 08:13 AM PDT
So glad it was only the vehicles that paid the price. | |
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