I would venture to bet that there are few people who have not yet heard about the horrible accident at the Indiana State Fair on Saturday night. I was at a friend's engagement party downtown, enjoying glasses of wine and some tasty appetizers at Harry & Izzy's when I started getting text messages from friends living out of state. "Are you alive?" "Please tell me you're okay." I got a text from my friend Dan, who is an EMT, that he was on his way to the State Fair because a stage collapsed. In the midst of celebrating two awesome people, somewhere on the other side of town, there were people trying to lift a stage off of concert-goers trapped underneath.
Even now, three days later, the entire situation still makes my stomach turn. Watching the video on YouTube gives me chills. Newspapers continue to ask the why's and the how's and the "who were the heroes" questions we all ponder when things like this happen. I wasn't there. And I only know a few people who were. But I get the feeling that this tragedy has shaken so many people here in this community. The truth is, it could have been my roommate, a co-worker or my high school friends. Hell, it could have been my family there scrambling to get out of the way of a falling stage. It's that pit in your stomach feeling that we all experience that got me thinking. What is it about tragedies that seem to affect us so much? When something horrible happens to someone else, what is it about that situation that makes us feel a sense of personal loss?
As far as I can tell, it's about the connections we have as being a part of a collective whole. It's part of being a human. Of living and breathing and interacting with one another every day. Connections. That's what it comes down to. We as human beings thrive off of feeling connected to people. We are constantly defining who we are in the world largely based off of our relationships and reputations and social perceptions of who we are as individuals and what we believe in. Whether we're talking about a significant other, a group of your college friends, family, or the stranger you met at the bar who happens to share your affinity for country music, it's interesting to think about just how often we are defined by the people we stay connected to. When tragedy strikes, it's impossible to not transpose ourselves into those situations. What would I have done if I was there? What if it had been me instead of them? What if someone I know and loved was one of the unlucky ones who couldn't manage to escape?
It's a sickening feeling to imagine anyone being involved in something so horrible. Those who died were husbands and fathers, sisters and daughters. They were someone's friends. Someone else's everything. It's sad when it takes something like this to really force us to stop and think about all the people we have in our lives. To realize their value. I guess the best we can do is to carry on, connecting to those around us, and try to remember the brevity of life and the importance of really appreciating every single day.
Even now, three days later, the entire situation still makes my stomach turn. Watching the video on YouTube gives me chills. Newspapers continue to ask the why's and the how's and the "who were the heroes" questions we all ponder when things like this happen. I wasn't there. And I only know a few people who were. But I get the feeling that this tragedy has shaken so many people here in this community. The truth is, it could have been my roommate, a co-worker or my high school friends. Hell, it could have been my family there scrambling to get out of the way of a falling stage. It's that pit in your stomach feeling that we all experience that got me thinking. What is it about tragedies that seem to affect us so much? When something horrible happens to someone else, what is it about that situation that makes us feel a sense of personal loss?
As far as I can tell, it's about the connections we have as being a part of a collective whole. It's part of being a human. Of living and breathing and interacting with one another every day. Connections. That's what it comes down to. We as human beings thrive off of feeling connected to people. We are constantly defining who we are in the world largely based off of our relationships and reputations and social perceptions of who we are as individuals and what we believe in. Whether we're talking about a significant other, a group of your college friends, family, or the stranger you met at the bar who happens to share your affinity for country music, it's interesting to think about just how often we are defined by the people we stay connected to. When tragedy strikes, it's impossible to not transpose ourselves into those situations. What would I have done if I was there? What if it had been me instead of them? What if someone I know and loved was one of the unlucky ones who couldn't manage to escape?
It's a sickening feeling to imagine anyone being involved in something so horrible. Those who died were husbands and fathers, sisters and daughters. They were someone's friends. Someone else's everything. It's sad when it takes something like this to really force us to stop and think about all the people we have in our lives. To realize their value. I guess the best we can do is to carry on, connecting to those around us, and try to remember the brevity of life and the importance of really appreciating every single day.
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