07/30 Minneapolis bridge collapse

Tonight at 6 PM the 35W bridge fell into the Mississippi River at the end of rush hour. Estimates are about 50 cars were on the bridge - everyone who came out above the rubble has been rescued but everyone below the rubble is believed to be (although emergency management is putting a nice face on it, they have changed terminology from "rescue" to "recovery" operation) lost.

My SO travels in the area and after the event I tried to reach them repeatedly with no result. Usually they call me immediately on big news as so as time went by and I both couldn't reach them and didn't hear back I got more and more worried. I was finally preparing to head downtown to find the Red Cross family center when they called and explained what had happened.

It's funny what runs through your head in times like that - I think I was not dealing with my worry by thinking about the issues that would come from bereavement. I didn't want to take time off, sitting home climbing the walls and thinking of them would be the worst thing I could think of, but coming right back to work cheapens what they meant to you. Maybe I am too detached.

Watching the non-stop reports on TV, I went back to a phrase I'd heard from the Bible. It seems inappropriate but something is nagging me about this so I will post it:

King James Bible
Book of Luke, Chapter 13

1. There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.


2. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?


3. I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.


4. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?


5. I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Addendum
From a Strib editorial. I was getting ready for work yesterday morning watching Matt Lauer do some cupcake piece and thinking "Yep, dog days, nothing going on, no real news to report". The editors at the Strib administered the following richly deserved karmic bitch slap to me with tomorrow's editorial on the disaster:

There will be more for everyone to do. For now, none of us can know with certainty that we did not lose friends yesterday. To those who are mourning a loss, the community will show support and solidarity.

Some in the news business had been complaining lately about the lack of news. They spoke of the dog days. Yesterday we learned once more that everything can change in an instant, and that to lament a slow news day is a sin.

6 down, 24 to go.