It Happens

Friday, Mr. Honda Civic met Mr. Ford Raptor and not in a good way.  A guy was not paying attention and blew a stop sign and right into my left front tire.  Luckily, there was a witness, it was low speed, and no one was hurt. Well, his car took quite the beating.  I was none too thrilled about the situation, but I chose not to allow it to spin me up, get angry or lash out.  The man got out of the car, said he did not see the sign, apologized, and then called his insurance company.  He did all the right things in response to the situation.    

Per Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, an accident is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance.  I am certain this man did not wake up on Friday morning with the plan of running a stop sign and crashing his car.  Much too often though, we hear about situations where tempers flare in the midst of an accident.  Hello!    If we trip on a stair, should we yell at the stair, blame the builder that installed the stair, or blame the tree used to make the stair.  Accidents happen, and we cannot change that fact.  We can spin up and deal with all the nonsense that comes with the spin cycle, or we can assess the situation for what it is and work through it.    

Unforeseen or unplanned events and circumstances are part of life.  However, we can choose how we react to them.  I chose to see my accident this way:  no one was hurt, he took responsibility, I had a witness, and he was insured.

How would you see it?