A Freak Accident

It was a disturbing text that my aunt showed me Sunday night: "Teen decapitated by roller coaster". I was trying to enjoy some jerk catfish at the time, but found it difficult to eat after I'd seen the words. My mind flashed back to the times I've rode a roller coaster, and I wondered how I would react to seeing my fellow rider suddenly lose his/her head in the middle of the ride. Were the people around the teen stunned? Emotionally scarred for life? What about the operators of the ride or the people waiting in line? All it ever took for me to refuse a ride was hearing a few too many screams. I can't imagine how I'd feel had I seen something like that.  

As usual, though, I have to do some background research, because when I hear a story it's always missing an important detail. Plus, I wanted to know what had caused this freak accident to happen. And then I found out. 

The teenager had ignored signs stating that the area was restricted and even dangerous to park visitors, and had jumped a fence. It is thought that he was trying to retrieve a hat. No hat is worth losing your life over. 

He probably didn't think he'd get hurt. He figured he'd just jump over the fence real quick, grab his hat, then come back. He could tell all his buddies that he'd tempted fate and won. 

This is one of those moments when you shake your head but you can't decide if you feel worse because the family lost their son or because it was such a senseless death. You want to feel bad, but at the same time you battle a serves him right mentality because his death was completely avoidable. 

It is stories like these that make me believe even more that common sense is really not so common.