MODERN PARABLE: WINNING THE WORLD'S WORST LOTTERY

A man confronts the 2005 Boxing Day Tsunami, Thailand

 At some point in our young lives, we are reminded by an elder: you can die at any time. We're all bound by this and I personally find it a marvel how we have learned to keep this reality up boxed up. You live with it-the threat that you may die in 20 minutes. The old joke here is that you could just never get out bed but then succumb to some toxic substance exuded from dust mites.

Sometimes, folks simply are in the wrong place and the wrong time and win, as I am fond of terming, the worst lottery in the world. Here, the curious and sad case of Sally Ann Petrovsky.

One early evening, Mrs. Petrovsky alerted her husband that a young bunny was suppering on tender greens in their garden. Mr Petrovsky, who was watching the ballgame, hollered to his wife, nearby but unseen in the kitchen, to go out and give that bunny a good scolding. Being the loving wife and used to her man's eccentricities, she complied with his wish and went outside to have a word with the errant critter. She was soon struck by a half-ton chunk of jet engine that had sheared off Delta Flight 2078. The engine had exploded mid-flight at 30,000 feet hurling lethal debris over a wide area of central Iowa. The pilots managed to land the aircraft safely in Sioux City with no casualties among passengers and crew. Alas, this was not the fate of Sally Ann or the bunny. A neighbor recalled not hearing even a whistle, just a movement out of the corner of his eye  when the engine struck. The piece slammed into the Petrovsky's backyard with such force that the earth shook and windows rattled throughout the cul de sac. What remained was a 25 foot crater, smoking debris and a shattered landscape. Few remains of Sally Ann were found. 

Now, I realize this example is overly dramatic and one's chances of experiencing this unlikely and unhappy event are quite slim. But it does raise a fundamental truth: weird stuff happens. We live on and go about our lives and to dwell on this would certainly invite severe mental problems. But still, when we hear of such lottery wins, we quietly say to ourselves, "oh the poor soul, thank gawd it wasn't me".