Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Monday, August 28, 2006

Tragedy in the Bluegrass

I didn't have access to my computer yesterday to blog about the plane crash here in Lexington that so many of you no doubt saw news clips of on CNN and other news services. I didn't find out myself until nearly three hours after it happened, when I went over to a friend who had the local news on.

If you want in-depth coverage of the story, the people involved, etc., try the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Sometimes people try to understand the scope of tragedies better by relating themselves to what happened. People at work today are playing a form of six-degrees-of-separation in terms of knowing someone touched directly by the tragedy. D, who knows just about everyone in Lexington it seems, had several people she knew of through her family, even telling me that the brother of a police officer who once pulled me over had died. The neighbours of one of our co-workers died. But in the end what matters is 49 people--all of whom had loved ones, dreams, lives that were cut short on that early morning trip--have died in a fiery death that leaves us all to question why, and to morn.

Regardless of whom we knew--or whether we knew anyone--it is still a tragedy which strikes at the heart of our city. Hospital workers rallied to ready for survivors on an Sunday early morning, only to have one survivor brought in, the plane's first officer, who is still in critical condition. One of the best descriptions of what happened that day is Amy Wilson's story, which captures the facts and the emotions together in a well-written piece. I can't really do any better, so I won't try.

It wasn't a major jumbo liner; it wasn't the World Trade Centre, but for a city the size of Lexington, it's just as chilling.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of those killed, and for the quick recovery of the survivor, James Polehinke.

No comments: