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The Perfect Crash

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The Perfect Crash
Photo: Mark J. Rebilas / Reuters

Life is not tried…

It is merely survived…

If you’re standing outside…

The fire.

Profound, eh? Life is not tried, it is merely survived, if you’re standing outside the fire…

If you like those lyrics – tell Garth Brooks – he sings ‘em! And what a show he puts on!!!

And I’m going to need to come back to that in a moment….

But first, there are times, though, I think, when perhaps the majority of us can look back on a moment and feel as if…

We survived.

More than once I could think back, and remember a time when – if circumstances were just a liiiiiiiittle bit different – I might not have survived.

Those recollections give me the shivers.

Ohhh, no! Not the shivers!

Yep – the shivers!

Sure those moments are different for all of us – but my guess is most of you can identify with what I’m speaking of – when we had a scare of some sort – when our lives were threatened, and probably to a degree that we cannot fully fathom…

Perhaps if we were to sit around and try to come up with common denominators of those “we almost didn’t but we barely did – survive!” moments, we might find…

We had to give more than “just try” effort…

It could have happened better for us…

But it definitely could have been much, much worse…

Also, although one might believe that luck is a skill…

It could have been just blind luck, or –

If it weren’t for some someone else, we wouldn’t have made it…

Maybe it was your friend. Maybe it was a parent. Maybe it was a stranger. Maybe it was your brother.

Somebody. Helped. You.

And now this too, is as clear as a virgin’s conscience: Those are the debts we can never repay

But – we can savor the memory of being, and feeling…cared for –

Oi! Oi! Oi! – I seriously did not mean to get all mushy.

But ohhhhhhhh, how we relish the sensational! The near death deal – of someone else!

Come to think of it – this makes…great sports entertainment, yeah? Yeah!!!???!! Hmmm. Perhaps? We want to see that sensational…

The bursting flames…

And, the flying debris…

The skittering about of everything else around…

The snapping and crackling of the charged air…

And, the smashing to bits…

Then, all the bits bouncing about…

And in those stretched out seconds we hang on to the last shred of hope that nothing really…really…truly, ultimately bad…will happen to anyone…

And then…everything comes to a complete stop.

And this is where we come back to Garth Brooks…la la, la, la la la and “Life is not tried, it is merely survived, if you’re standing outside the fire…”

The collective held breath.

And then our guy gets up and walks away, with a little limp, but without a scratch!

And we say, thank you, Scott Dixon – for the perfect crash!!!

Everything we were hoping for – and you’re fine!!

What saved him? Many things…

The people who designed the car? Probably a little at least.

The people who made the rules? Absolutely, a little, at least.

The safety tub he was sitting in? Yep – you betcha! And that’s what they call it, too – a safety tub.

And, his helmet? Definitely had something to do with it…

What about a little blind luck? Perhaps, perhaps.

So, what’s that tell us?

Well, I’d say that, at the least – it tells us that things happen for a reason,

And also…

Some things don’t happen for a reason.

C’est la vie!!!

By Dr. Rodney J. Blackman

Dr. Rodney J. Blackman is the Chair of Recreation Management at the United States Sports Academy, and can be reached at rblackman@ussa.edu.

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