1 post tagged “bridge collapse”

I live in Minneapolis. I'm sure you've already read or heard about the 35W bridge collapse here in the Twin Cities. The wife and I were talking about this on the drive into work this morning.

Last night, we were playing Guitar Hero and had not seen the news. The calls started; we found out from E that the bridge had collapsed. For awhile, we couldn't picture it. Even looking at news footage didn't seem to help. After all, we are the Land of 10,000 Lakes - there are easily 10,000 bridges for each of those bodies of water. We live within a mile of the portion of 35W that collapsed. We don't take that highway on a daily basis, but it is what we would take to get to the airport.

So back to fielding calls and text messages last night (and this morning). We are fine, obviously, and went about the business of getting ready for work this morning. We normally catch the bus to work. All the bus stops near our house had been re-routed. I expected this; delays and re-routing and cancellations. It's what should happen.

The wife had the hardest time picturing which bridge, which portion had collapsed. We got into the car when it was clear we weren't going to be catching the bus this morning. She couldn't picture it, so she was kind of struggling with why things not in the immediate vicinity of the collapse were closed off. We had a whole conversation about inconvenience then. We were also listening to the radio; she brought up that someone said that the bridge collapse and the ensuing tragedy were "Minnesota's 9/11." We debated this.

But then we drove past the bridge, and we saw. And then a better understanding dawned.

I think sometimes, when stuff like this happens, and it doesn't immediately touch you, the whole experience can be akin to walking through cotton. When it's not you or people you know or love, you understand it, you sympathize, but you aren't embroiled. And there's a tendency to feel...insulated from it.

I think that's a very human response, when you're not at the front line of a tragedy. But when you actually see with your own eyes what has happened - a huge portion of an interstate just gone and you can see the missing chunks - it's jarring.

I am happy that me and mine are all doing OK. I am sad about the people who have died or been seriously injured because of this. I am baffled as to how this could have happened.

But I understand why it feels weird to even be at work today. Of course, you have to keep going. It's like the moment after some massive silence or a series of frozen seconds where time and life resumes. Everyone's sort of thinking, "What happened?" but they move forward, almost out of habit.

I wouldn't sign on to the theory that this is Minnesota's 9/11, but I understand the comparison. I really do feel that there's something visceral that happens in industrialized nations when major architectural (and cultural) landmarks and structures are destroyed. We are so tied up with our man-made structures, that when they go down, it triggers a fear about survival. The building went down. The bridge collapsed. Electricity is out. You can't get cell phone signals. Regardless if someone close to you has been hurt, your whole plan has shifted. You cancel meetings. You go a different way to work. You can't get to work. Will you always have to take a different route from now on? How long will they take to rebuild it? How did this happen? Is any bridge safe? What does this mean for the future?

"I am afraid."

The ripple effect continues.

Even though these are seemingly small things, this is what I think people mean when they say that tragedy effects everyone. It changes the fabric of everyone's life, in so many different ways.