Lystra Wrote

There is an eternity of time during that moment for you to think about all the consequences of what is about to transpire.

You worry for your safety, hopefully you have your seatbelt on, and the safety of your passengers, You are surrounded by friends and family, people whose lives are as precious to you as your own.

You know, at that moment, that things are about to change for the worse. Even the best of outcomes are likely to be painful and the worst outcomes are unthinkable. At that moment you don’t know how dire the outcome will be you only know that it is coming and there is nothing you can do about it.

That is how I feel right now, but instead of a car accident I am watching myself slide out of control in this economy.

We have been screeching to a stop, everyone bracing for impact for so long now that it almost seems ridiculous. The impact is as inevitable as a car crash, and I am at that place where I am wondering, how am I going to walk away from this and how badly is this going to hurt?

Most of all I am scared for my passengers. My family and friends, are they going to make it? How will they fare in this oncoming tragedy.

All we have to look forward to is the cacophony of destruction. The crunching of metal, the screeching of tires, the screams of the scared and injured.

How bad is it going to be?

No one knows. I feel like the cautious driver, the one who had done everything right, everything by the book and still looks up at the oncoming tractor truck barreling through the red light.

What else could I do. What could I have done different or better?

Nothing, and now I must prepare to suffer the consequences of leaving my house, at that particular moment in time that brought me to this place.

I hope that I am wrong, that we will swerve and avoid the collision. Avoid all the suffering that looms before us, but hope is just that, a vain wish in the face of adversity. I cling to it like a steering wheel, closing my eyes and waiting for impact.