Vicarious tragedies
Watching the news, it is clear that there are troubles in the world. Natural or man-imposed, things do come crashing down on the unsuspecting. And, because we all want to feel safe in our homes, we create a simplistic us/them mindset and move along. You know what I mean… “that’s over there and I don’t care.” But despite the miles, sometimes you get a little poke on the arm, and a voice whispers, “You too!”
This morning, I received an email concerning the start of an online course I’ve subscribed to.
The tragedy, which took place in Boston this past Monday occurred one block from our online offices. Authorities are treating a multi-block radius around the bombings at the Boston Marathon as a crime scene, and as such, access to all buildings in the area has not been possible, including our offices.
Unfortunately, what this means is that we have not been able to access the assets we need to launch our course this coming Monday. We are confident that we will be allowed back into the area shortly, and that we will be able to launch next week.
Succinct. No pain, but my vicarious side took this as an inclusion of me in them. And next week, when the work begins, I’ll remember that sometimes, things fall apart.
Back to my life. Having missed a couple of days in the office, the work was piled a little higher. No free lunch here. That’s tomorrow. And when the closing bell rang (OK, there’s not really a bell, but it is a disaffected school), I’d reduced the pile to “neant”. More tomorrow, I’m sure.
