There have been two nights of riots in a Paris suburb following a fatal motorcycle/police car accident. So I found it a little surreal to be an auditory witness to a moto/car accident last night...the second night of the riots in Paris for almost the same reason.
I was standing outside the dance studio, waiting for my girls to get done with their lessons. It was cold, and many of us waiting parents were huddled together, chatting, just out of view of the entry to the parking lot from the busy street. We all heard a moto (more like a revved up moped) noisily race by the dance studio, headed towards the exit of the parking lot. What we heard next was enough to make us all stop talking and run in the direction of the terrible metal on metal sound of a bad motor vehicle collision...realising that we no longer heard the moto's noisy engine...and understanding what that probably meant.
None of us visually saw the accident, but we did see the result of a head-on moto versus car collision. One trying to leave the parking lot and the other trying to get in. The driver of the moto tried to get up as the driver of the car got out of his car...and here is where I got a little miffed, because instead of asking if he was okay, the driver of the car started to yell at the driver of the moto...roughly translated:
"What the he!l are you doing driving your moto in front of my car and getting yourself run over for?"
Okay...so much for brotherly concern. I can understand that the driver of the car was probably in shock with what had just happened, but the driver of the moto was in pain...from what we could tell at the distance we were from the accident. A little concern for him would have, should have been the driver's first priority. And here is where I throw in a stereotype about the french, quick to try and place the blame as far away from themselves as possible. My husband would probably add here that I've become very french indeed if this is a definition of being french...but my point is, I don't know what happened in the case of the accident in Paris. But maybe a little immediate compassion for the victims, whether at fault or no, could have lessened some of the violent reactions to that fatal accident.
The accident I heard last night wasn't fatal. Help arrived within minutes. We don't live in a town where poverty and poor living conditions have a whole population living with a short fuse. But if we did, I can kind of see why an uncompassionate response to a drama might just light that short fuse.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
That is EXACTLY what happens here. The blame is IMMEDIATELY placed on someone else. Shouting and pointing and lots and lots of name calling ensue. It's crazy. My first reaction is to make sure everyone is okay before even wasting time thinking about who is at fault. But that must be the American in me.
Funny, the blame game often affects communication with my husband. As soon as I try to smooth out an issue with him, he is trying to place the blame on anyone or anything, and no matter how I reassure him that I could care less who is at blame, we cannot discuss a possible solution until the guilty party is identified. Do you get that too?
It's a shame that people can be so selfish. I don't get it. Ok, well I do but that's worthy of a discussion in itself.
I was recently rear-ended, no damage just a real light bump to the back of my vehicle. Of course, I stopped to make sure nothing was wrong. Traffic was stopped so the guy in back of me was just not paying attention. He immediately covered for himself, not even stating sorry or just as a courtesy asking if I was ok. He wanted to make sure he stated he didn't do any damage. Blah, blah, blah . . . . . . . . I was a wee bit annoyed with that.
Wow, those kinds of things shake you up even when you don't "see" them. There's been a couple of particularly nasty accidents here over the years and they shake me up just reading about them.
A natural human instinct is to shift blame to someone else when possible. Sometimes the best thing is just to take a breath and look out for each other first.
We are quick to find the blame in others-why does this happen? Is it really so bad to admit you have made a mistake or could be wrong ~nothing seems to surprise me these days....
I found this post very interesting, and I believe this is my first comment after lurking now and again over the last couple of weeks. I have a friend (American) who lives in Paris so I was following the news about the riots and emailing her about them... she lives in the heart of tourist Paris so was unaffected, same as two years ago. But the tendency to blame -- do you personally think the policemen involved in the accident could have headed off the violence? Not trying to get all political here, just genuinely interested in the view of a bi-lingual expat. Sorry to go so long!
No, I don't think there was much the police could have done to head off the violence.
Post a Comment