"National Tragedy" and Perspective

If you're reading this, you haven't been hiding in a cave for the last couple days. You've heard about the pedestrian bridge collapsing in Florida. The death toll reports rise periodically: one, four, six. Since 8 cars were affected, i.e., squashed, at least 8 people were involved, and that's even if each were a single-person vehicle.

The TV coverage has repeatedly shown an unidentified man telling the reporter on scene that it was a "national tragedy." Tragedy, certainly. But overblown, much?

Every single loss is somebody's tragedy. But how is this national in scope? Is he talking about the national 15 minutes of attention before the news cycle goes on to the next whatever? Perhaps the tragedy spreads to the contractors or engineers if studies show them responsible for the bridge failure. They lose money, trust, personnel. Perhaps, if one really wants to stretch it, repercussions from this event spread out across the country to a residue of unease and mistrust of bridges, as many reported after the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

But that is still a far cry from it being a national tragedy.

If you want to discuss national tragedy, how about we start serious discussions and some real action to end all the gun violence in this country? But since it's guns, we can't and don't. Can't, because by law places like the CDC are prohibited from collecting the data that would show the true figures about just how pervasive it is, not only in death tolls, but non-fatal injuries and imprisonments. Won't, because our lawmakers are under the thumb of, if not downright paid for, by the nutzoid extremists in the NRA who cry "2nd amendment rights" while their real goal is selling more guns.

That is the real national tragedy.

Thoughts and prayers aren't going to solve one bit of it.