A Void

The Associated Press released a story about the victims of the D.C. plane crash.

Relatives and friends shared remembrances of their lost loved ones, and it’s a heartwarming story, but one that left me feeling lost.

As I mentioned, I’ve often left for visits to Kansas leaving on Sundays and returning on Wednesday.

My lay-over is always in D.C.

So, there’s a chance that it was a plane I could’ve been on…

…which makes one feel that life is pretty random and way too fragile.

There were a lot of young people on that plane, but it’s a shame that anyone - young or old - died in such a horrific manner.

A man on a business trip.

A group of men out to Kansas on a hunting trip.

A woman who booked an earlier flight to get back to D.C. to celebrate her 33rd birthday.

A group of figure skaters.

Lives cut short and in a world where we have so much technology- what are the odds of a mid-air collision?

For years, we’ve heard the stories of air traffic controllers and the difficulty of working in that field.

The union was busted back in Reagan’s days and every so often you’d hear about horrible burnout and shortages in the department.

When the tragedy happened it was said that there was one air traffic controller doing the job of at least two people.

The day AFTER the incident there was a story about the letter that went out to air traffic controllers across the board…

…they were being asked to resign.

I’m not quite up to all the details but after reading about those poor people, I know one thing to be true…

…it’s a job that is extremely important to our way of life.

That’s a corner that we simply cannot cut.

And when asked about the incident, one should not be glib about visiting the accident scene:

“What do you want me to do, go swimming?”

Been a sad 10 days, leaving horrible voids in a lot of lives.