Routine maintenance

The sight of a bridge lying crumpled over a river is a horrifying sight. The shock of what happened Wednesday night in Minneapolis hasn't worn off. While I was at work yesterday, it seemed like all I did was watch CNN or look at the websites of the two papers in the Twin Cities. That really could have happened anytime, anywhere. Your heart sinks when you hear such terrible news.

And while the recovery continues, and the investigation begins, the recriminations start in earnest. It's always the way--tragedy occurs, we're transfixed, blame gets apportioned. It didn't take 24 hours for that to happen. On a smaller scale, there's some similarity to Katrina--everyone blaming everyone else and not taking their own share of the responsibility. The buck gets passed, token effort is thrown at the problem, and we haven't really moved forward.

I remember back in 1983 when a chunk of a bridge fell in Connecticut. And I remember the debate it set off about this country's failing infrastructure. And still...deja vu all over again. The percentage of bad bridges is embarrassingly high. There was a steam explosion in New York a few weeks ago. We know we have problems with the bones that hold us up. We know we need to make serious repairs. But where is the will and the courage to do what we know we need to do? To make the hard choices about what needs to be done?

Part of this is about neglect. Bridges take a lot of stress, and get utterly pounded every day. They are almost human--they have to be looked after and cared for. It's a constant process that can go a long way to prevent catastrophe. Sound familiar?