Accidents Suck

There’s no denying automobile accidents suck, even more so when you’re at fault. That was me last week. I tried putting myself in the shoes of the victim, who was understandably angry at the woman who’d inadvertently run a red light and hit her. Inadvertent or not, I’d still hit her. If I were her, I would have been just as angry and shaken up, but the mistakes that led to the accident haunt me, even though everyone walked away with nothing more serious than bumps and bruises.

Then I heard something over the weekend that gave me some perspective. Even in the worst situations we can look for two things - blessings and challenges. On the surface all I could focus on was how my mistake had screwed up people’s lives (mine includead), for a several days at least. This sentiment allowed me to take stock of the accident. The blessings were obviously no one being seriously injured or worse; the challenges making sure such an accident doesn’t happen to me again.

Accidents still suck, but I’m hopeful I can take this experience and learn from it in a positive way.