I hope it won't hurt

Another person was killed by public transit yesterday. I say that like it happens with some regularity, which is probably not the case despite the headlines. And I wouldn't ordinarily mention it except that it totally freaked me out.

I didn't see the accident, mind you. I don't take the bus or Muni Metro light rail on a daily basis since I walk to and from work. But I do take it often enough to know how easily something like this could happen.

A number of months ago, for example, a man ran to catch the train and tried to squeeze in as the doors were closing... something we've all done at some point. But this time his arm was caught in the doors as they closed before he got inside. They're supposed to open again, of course, and the train operator is also supposed to look out the side mirrors to make sure people are clear before driving off. This man was lucky because the hysterical passengers inside the car managed to pull the emergency stop just before the train entered the tunnel.

Yesterday, though, the result was tragic and gruesome. Apparently a 40-year man was going to get on the N-Judah line out in the Sunset when he tripped as the door closed. He somehow became entangled and was dragged 3 blocks under the train before the driver became aware of the situation.

This was just a regular guy who started his day headed to work like the rest of us, and then this horrible thing happened and he was dead. It certainly makes one pause. I trip going down the stairs. I trip on the sidewalk. I've stepped into an intersection as some idiot taxi careens around the corner. Hell, I've been hit by a woman taking a left turn directly into me and hurling me onto the asphalt.

Any little thing could so easily turn into a tragedy if circumstances and timing were even slightly different, and often these things are largely out of our control. It's not something we think of very often because if we did, we'd never want to set foot outside of the house again.

Of course, then a chunk of satellite would crash into the apartment, or the building would collapse during the Big One.

The thing is, I guess, that it's just a dangerous world out there. Life is short, and you never know what's lying in wait around the corner. When your time is up, it's up, and in the meantime, we should just be living it up and soaking it in and enjoying every moment of it, because the next moment we might be a smear on the pavement.