Forward

She made it home. Just another day. Her new job did not feel new by the time she was familiar with the business processes, and that has been a few months now. But that didn’t bother her; in fact, she enjoyed working. What got her feeling strangely disconnected with reality today was an accident. Two cars crashing into each other, their fronts folding like origami paper in a loud thunder-like clap with thousands of tiny glass pieces spreading like a firework and falling down like heavy rain. She did not see what happened but heard people screaming and yelling. After having a shower, she turned on the stove to heat up leftovers from the day before. The sizzling pan was accompanied by the news anchor on TV, reporting on daily news and current local incidents. Another School shooting, the rape and murder of a young lady and the car crash all contrasted starkly with the economical and political development of the nation and the globe by extension. Just another month. But there was something about the brutal reality of the crash that did not let her mind rest. Too instant, too close. Unfortunate but mostly, unnecessary; and yet it seemed like a minor thing on the grand scale. After dinner she picked up her Journal and began to write.

I still hear the screams. The sudden earthshaking bang followed by a shower of glass. I can’t remember if I truly saw it or if I only started to look after it had already happened. 3 People died in this accident, only 1 survivor. And yet, why doesn’t it bother me like it should? And more importantly, why am I not surprised? I witnessed sudden terror and it leaves me without emotion. We are back to normal; or back to our old ways. Last year we had a lot of turmoil. We sometimes seem to forget that there are other countries on this planet, other people, other struggle and turmoil. Covid connected us. But to think that it would be different now, is a sad fiction born of hope. Hope is what we needed. Maybe we are forward, and not back. But we haven’t really changed. The world (or at least what we view as our world) seems stable again. Only for how long? We went through a lot, only to come out on top caring as much as we have before. Time doesn’t stop, it goes forward.