Confession

This past Friday morning there were several accidents around the area due to icy roads. One such accident was actually just down the road from where Ash and I live and resulted in two people's deaths. While listening to the radio at 8am to learn more about the weather and driving situation, it became apparent that one of the accidents involved a FedEx truck and that the driver had died. Also, the "packages [were] everywhere."

Now for my confession: upon hearing about the FedEx accident, I thought it was the accident near us. My first thought was not "it's too bad the driver died" or "I hope he knew God" or "I'm glad no one else was hurt." No...my first thought was "I hope I didn't have a package coming." Of course, I immediately felt bad after thinking that and told Ash as much, at which point she confessed to having the same thought. How lame is that? Two normally caring adults, upon hearing of a tragic accident first think of themselves. And, to add to the inappropriateness, the FedEx accident wasn't even the one near us. It happened on the beltway around D.C. (it was at this point we learned it was an 18-wheeler that had tumbled off an overpass while trying to avoid a pickup truck that had cut it off).

I don't think this is an uncommon occurrence. When something bad happens to someone else, often our first response is to wonder how it affects us. Think about it...how many times have you been annoyed about an accident ahead of you because traffic slows to a crawl? How often does a tragedy happen to someone else that inconveniences you and makes you mad? Weird Al actually wrote a song about it on his album Poodle Hat titled "Why Does This Always Happen To Me?" It's an amusing song until you realize how often little, tiny things annoy us and that we often don't see the big tragedies as anything other than getting in the way of our own lives.

And I am as susceptible to this form of thinking as anyone. Is it enough to realize what we're thinking and feel bad about it? Is there a way to change our first, selfish response?

Does anyone else have a confession?