Like every American, and probably everyone in the world today, I worry that suddenly, my life will be cut short by the acts of others. Not only by a drunk driver late at night, but also maybe by a faulty elevator at work, a stray bullet in a bad neighborhood, or terrorists. Or an abusive, controlling boyfriend.
I talk about this because every time I drive under the overpass at 75 and the George Bush I think hard about the young woman who was thrown from the overpass by her boyfriend a few weeks ago into oncoming traffic. It’s a cold feeling that hits me every time we go near that bridge, and it turns my stomach because I imagine in vivid technicolor glory that fear. I can’t help but think that could have been my mother. Or my sister. Or any other woman who has been in a controlling relationship. It begins with telling you where you can and can’t go, and it ends with your body hitting a moving car 85 feet below, sliding off the hood of one car, and under the wheels of the next. So what if the fucker jumped too? It wasn’t her fault, and she died anyway. I never met her, but I feel for her, and I feel for her family. And I worry about women I care about.
I also worry about this kind of thing. Because I worry all the time. I heard about that story on the radio this morning, and there were two reactions going on simultaneously, almost independently.
- I was pissed at the radio station for crying wolf in a way, for inciting public feelings of racism and fear, of flashing images of things that can only cause panic. There’s nothing we can do about this incident that turned out to not be an incident. But the woman writes about it, and posts it on the web. Then KISS FM broadcasts it.
- I also panicked. On my way to work, this wasn’t such a wonderful thing. We’re flying to LA for a vacation later next month, Tony’s anniversary gift to me. I considered, for a millisecond, not going at all. I reconsidered, though, as I want to go to LA so bad. And life goes on, people.
This stuff happens every day in other countries, but America doesn’t have a schema in its national consciousness for dealing with this fear, this uncertainty. We have been sheltered. “Sheltered” sounds negative, right? Like we’re not cool because we haven’t been bitten hard by life like the “cool” countries.
But then again, I don’t think every child should have a taste of the whip, of starvation, of broken bones, in order to be cool.
Nothing. Bad. Happened. Anyway.
And I am a firm believer in the fact that what you don’t know won’t hurt you. Not a peep on Headline News today. For good reason. There are two sides to the media in this nation, the 24-hour a day unfettered access to news, and the bias that network executives introduce into stories. Reporters are people, too, and Annie Jacobsen and the other passengers could have been totally making this ”incident” up. Out of fear. Generated by the acts of terrorism. And the upcoming political fervor of the conventions. And the media’s constant “updates” about possible terror plots surrounding the conventions. I betcha the DNC is safe, though. I’d worry more about the republicans, myself.
I have a student who is terrified of cats. Not because she was attacked by a vicious rabid feline, but because cats “look scary”. I like this woman, but having 5 “scary” animals in my house I know that they can barely figure out how to make it to the kitchen countertop, much less plot my death.
A little while ago she saw a cat at her apartment complex, lounging at the top of the stairs as she and her daughter walked up them. The cat got up when she was coming up the stairs, stared into her eyes, and moved towards her, all the while keeping a lock with her gaze. She wanted to move past the cat to get into her apartment, but when she moved left, the cat followed, when she moved right, the same. She ran back down the stairs, daughter in tow, and the cat followed her! She ran with her daughter until the cat gave up the chase. They returned home an hour later or so and the cat was gone.
Sounds kind of scary, this evil stalker cat from Hell. Who probably wanted nothing more than to be petted, and maybe (woo hoo!) fed. My cats lock eyes with me to get my attention, and make me focus on them, to pet them, to pick them up. They follow to get lovin’s, not to suck the breath from my body. She misinterpreted this cat’s behavior, and those passengers could have misinterpreted the behavior of those passengers, who share with an antisocial lunatic fringe group the dubious distinction of being Muslim. Americans don’t all share the views of our president, the most visible American in the world. Not all Muslims are haters, y’all.
But then again, those passengers could have been totally right about what was going on on that plane. And that uncertainty sucks.
