That is the context for how I began to interpret the dark streets where drivers are willing to risk their lives along with the lives of countless strangers. That was how I began to see the neighborhoods where young people are so confused that nothing seems to excite them but to tempt fate. That was how it appeared to me when the people sitting on stools in the casino stared blankly at the wheezing machines hoping to leave with what they did not walk in with. These patterns of despair manifested themselves everywhere.
What stuns me about this clearly abundant despair is that we all forget how intimately tied to each other we are. The domino effect of car accidents, foreclosures, bankruptcies, severe injuries, cannot be denied. Think about this scenario. The man from Rhode Island rams into my car, hurting both of us and maybe others as well. His family and friends are affected. Suzanne is upset and may lose time from work to take care of me. I lose time from my own life too if I survive. The man from Rhode Island may go to jail. The time and effort of all the emergency services people who have to get involved.
And then thinking about Atlantic City we just learned that they have repealed the no smoking ban. To me that means that the health and well being of not just the patrons but the people who work there are of so little consequence that it makes more sense in a bottom line way to let people smoke while they throw their money away than adjust to the long term results of sitting in smoked-filled rooms day after day.
The writing is on the wall. We are constantly terrorizing ourselves by giving in to our own worst instincts. We seem to have a natural propensity for it but we also can choose to live according to what we know is better for the common good. I do think we could all stop tempting fate. We could remember as we go through the day that we are all in this together.
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