School Bus Accident

School Bus Accident

A cranky opinion for

CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY

The following is the opinion of a cranky old man, who may have wandered from opinion to random ranting…sorry.  Opposing opinions or random rants are encouraged, but they are wrong.  As usual, no name calling and that means you, you big stupid-head.

We are fast becoming a society of victims.  Now I don’t want to sound insensitive, I think it is great for people to be more inclusive and concerned about the feelings of others.  I think we should expect or seek fairness in society.  Bad people should be disciplined; bad ideas should be disputed but on the way, bad things may happen and it is not always somebody’s fault.

Racism is bad.  Bullying is bad.  Hatred is bad, but it is becoming very difficult these days to not offend someone.  I don’t use the term Orient or Oriental unless I am talking about a carpet, because I’ve been taught it is offensive.  Apparently, you can say Asian.  I don’t know the difference.

Those with a mental deficiency used to be called idiots, then retards, then challenged, then, for now at least, special…I think, I agree idiots and retard does not sound very nice, but it is just a matter of time before special will be offensive.  I don’t know the difference.

People used to be either straight or homosexual.  Apparently homosexual is offensive so now we say gay.  I don’t know the difference.  There used to be a gay community, now it is the LGBT community for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.  A few months ago, Q was added for queer, meaning gender confused.  Queer used to be offensive.  Just today I found they added two new letters,  I for inter- sexual, and A for asexual.  Couldn’t we just call the LGBTQIA community the NS for nontraditional sexuality community?  I’m afraid of leaving out a letter and offending.

Today I saw an article about a school bus accident.  One father was in a traffic jam that was a result of the accident.  He found out about it when his wife sent him a text.  The article did not say how the wife heard about the accident.

This father was incensed that he did not hear about the accident directly from the school system.  He was worried for his child.  He had no official notice.  He was angry, he was a victim.

This bus was T-boned by a drunk who stole an SUV and ran a red light.  There were five students on the bus.  None were injured, and they were all placed on another bus and driven home. 

The child of the father who was so angry was not on this bus.  Why was he so angry? How was he a victim?  Maybe the school could have disseminated information better, though I’m not sure if they want to alarm anyone over five students who were not injured, and I’m not sure how they should inform everyone.  If they used texts, I guarantee there would be at least one parent without a cell phone who would claim discrimination.

I don’t get it.  I guess I am old and out of touch.  I grew up thinking that sometimes bad stuff just happens and there was not always someone to blame.  I grew up understanding that the world revolves around the Sun and I was just a passenger.  When I stub my toe, I don’t go looking for someone to blame.  If I get stung by a bee, I don’t sue the neighbor who planted the flowers that attracted the bee.  If I get stuck in the snow, I don’t blame the snow plows, I blame the snow, and myself for not staying home.

Perhaps someday children will grow up in a world where no one gets sick, hurt, cold, scared, bullied, called names, or experiences disappointment.  We may have a world where there is no hate and everyone is nice to everybody.  That would be lovely…I guess.

Many years ago, I remember a story in Sports Illustrated about a baseball player who went 4 for 4; four hits in four at bats.  He did this for three games in a row and he was the talk of the baseball world.

After two weeks of going 4 for 4 every game he was a baseball God, he was cheered and worshipped by adults and children alike.  By the third week people were beginning to root for him to make an out.  By the fourth week fans were booing him because he never made an out.  I don’t remember how the story ended, but I was struck by the concept that perfection would at some point become boring and take the expectation and fun out of…in this case the game of baseball, but allegorically, life itself.

Life isn’t perfect, people aren’t perfect, bad stuff happens and it is not always someone’s fault.  Words and names are important, but they are often not used to cause pain intentionally, maybe we could be more understanding.  It is great to strive for perfection, but along the way, shouldn’t we be able to expect and accept flaws?  Is it offensive to be too easily offended?

The preceding was the opinion of a cranky old man, and not that of management, Mrs. Cranky, who apparently can’t tell what part of this is opinion and what part is just random blathering.