Monday, April 30, 2018

Why Do We Like to Watch Train Wrecks?


Train wrecks are exciting. They’re dramatic. They get the adrenaline flowing.

 Sports events,  Rodeos, Bungee jumping, Parachute rides. Wow, jumping out of airplanes. Well, I rode horses, that can be dangerous too, and I have scars to prove it. 

When I complain to my grandson that there is a lot of fighting on video games he says without it nothing would happen. 

Well, crumb.

It’s a temptation to write about tragedy. Why do you think the motto of journalists is “If it bleeds, it leads?” 

It gets attention.

A blog or so ago, I mentioned the song How Great Thou Art and how rousing it is. Rock and roll has it’s inception in gospel music—those writers were no dummies.

Think of the old tent revival meetings, without rousing music those meetings would be droll. Well, I guess threatening the congregation with Hellfire and Brimstone had its effect too.

No Hellfire or Brimstone here, but I’ve known some train wrecks in my day.
They sneak up on you, sometimes don’t they?

And while those train wrecks get the adrenaline surging, which we want, the train wreck we don’t want. 

We want to be Superman.

Or Wonder Woman.

Put on your bracelets.
Get ready to rock.