Death

I rarely think about death in more than an obscure sense, that it exists and people experience it. Although I have a mortality complex (which probably deserves its own post), I simply don't think about it much.

I saw a dead person today.

It was sort of your standard, fatal car crash. There was a traffic jam on VanBuren as I was headed towards the westbound 60. Then I saw the lights of the firetrucks and a seriously damaged truck in the median. As I got to the scene, the traffic once again stopped. Not of my choosing, I was as close as the traffic could get, around 15 feet away. I watched the firefighters cut away the roof of the vehicle and the EMTs prepare to cover the body with a white sheet. I was stopped for an eternity, maybe 60 seconds. It was long enough for me to reevaluate the value of life, and all of my close calls.

Obviously, people deal with death everyday (nurses, doctors, police, firefighters, and soliders). For my sheltered life, today made an impact on my perspective. Someone won't be coming home tonight.