Accidents Happen!

Accidents Happen!
Current mood: uncomfortable

There was a super-nasty accident in the Medical/Dental Building parking lot today. That's the building directly west of my office on 6th and Pine. I guess there were 2 people literally mangled in between 2 cars. The rear car apparently hit the acceleration rather than the brake. (Makes my spine tingle!) As I walked by, I saw one of the women being carried out on a stretcher. Her hip bone was sticking off the side of the stretcher. This is one of the nastiest things I think I've ever seen in person. It's burned into my mind right now the way you get sunspots after you look at the sun.

As with everything, I tend to dig a little deeper. I am not a huge fan of outrightly violent movies, but some of my close friends absolutely live for the stuff. Our culture in general is very attuned to and desensitized to violence. (And strangely puritanical about a couple of things I happen to like a lot---sex and nudity!) I noticed that other passersby were not nearly as shocked and concerned as I'd become. There were a few exceptions, of course. But in general it was business as usual.

Does this mean I need to go out and buy a TV and tune in to CSI, etc., like the rest of the country? Should I quit with the obscure documentaries and artsy-fartsy story-based indie films; and seek out blood-and-guts action instead? (I did, after all, check out SoaP last weekend, although that was more of a comedy...)

I just dunno. Today's social mores seem to indicate that my skin is not thick enough, if a little bloody exposed hip bone wigs me out. Sensitivity is not a good trait to carry into the 21st century, it seems. Yet I can't stop thinking about these 2 poor people. I wonder how civilians in Iraq and Lebanon (not to mention the Congo, again, and Darfur) deal with the constant blood and gore they are surrounded with every day.

On a side note, I've never been more pleased with the fact that I don't own a car. Destructive machines, those.

Currently listening :
The Age of Plastic
By The Buggles
Release date: 15 June, 1990