Stuff That Matters In Life

It has to happen to everyone sooner or later. Hopefully not more than once or twice. And hopefully not serious.

Elliot was in a car accident – at 19 years old, his first collision.

The first concern is – Is anyone hurt? Are you ok? The most important thing is that there were no injuries. Everything else are just minor details – irritating, but minor in the big picture.

There are 2 aspects of his accident I find interesting.

The car that was 2 in front of Elliot was the cause of the 5-car pile up. He reportedly ran out of gas! Can you imagine he’s on the freeway going 60 mph, suddenly comes to a stop. He probably thought he had just enough gas left after the needle was on E to get him home. What is seemingly a small matter of an error in judgment caused a collision involving at least 4 other people, cost Elliot a day of work, cost everyone the time and hassle of getting their car fixed. Wow, it is mind boggling to consider how the ripple effect results from a small mistake of one person.

Secondly, while Elliot was not able to stop in time and crashed into the Chevy Blazer in front of him, it was extremely fortunate that the big rig truck behind him did brake in time and did not hit Elliot, with only 5-10 feet to spare. Contemplating the “what if” is pretty scary – Elliot in a little 2-door Tercel crunched between a big rig and an SUV. It is a miracle that the momentum of freeway speed with no traffic at 11pm at night and the mass of a huge truck was able to stop in time. Thank you God, for that driver’s quick reaction, and the good brakes on his truck. The mini-van behind the truck was not so fast and crashed into the truck. The damage was severe enough that it had to be towed from the scene.

Apparently God has in his plan to allow Elliot more time on earth. Stuff happens in life. So keep the big picture in perspective and don’t sweat the small stuff.