The Sixthman offices are on a relatively busy street connecting I-20 to a few different neighborhoods. Every day, at least once, sirens of some sort interrupt a meeting or phone call–it just comes with the territory.
So today when the sirens started, for whatever reason, I started counting the number of police cruisers flying by with sirens blaring and finally stopped at 12. I thought I was so smart, proclaiming that it must be a rolling road block for someone important–seemed like the Pope was cruising through Atlanta based on the attention.
But lo and behold…Kelly, who knows all, is listening to the police scanners online (I never knew that was possible!) and everyone gathers to discover it’s a high speed chase going through Atlanta. The sirens pass us again after the criminal did a U-turn and the office stops. Everyone is waiting and listening to see what happens. He’s in this neighborhood, his crime was this, he turned left, does he have passengers, he’s driving this car, etc. It finally ended with minor injuries to the police and the villain in a place I know well–the beloved shopping center with the shoe outlet.
I can vividly remember having just moved to Atlanta when the big OJ car chase happened. We hadn’t unpacked yet and watched the entire thing sitting on the floor of our new apartment on some crappy black and white TV that would eventually be traded in for a better model. Everyone was glued to the TV to see what would happen. I would be willing to believe most people who are old enough can also remember exactly where they were when they found out about Princess Diana (I’m not old enough to remember Kennedy being shot, but you get the picture).
I am always frustrated by highway backups that seem to pop up for no good reason and that frustration is only increased when we figure out that everyone is slowing down to look at an accident or simply someone pulled over for speeding. Growing up, we called this rubbernecking–not sure what the term is these days.
So my question is…why can’t we not look when something bad is happening? Why do we remember the situation we were in while watching something horrible vs. wonderful…or do we just not notice the wonderful moments at all since we’re over-exposed to the bad?
Red