The Real Tragedy

Dear Stranger,
I saw it on the news today.
It made me pause from washing plates.
One more accident claimed a life.
I listened while I wiped the knife.
Again, it landed flat on me;
One more statistic on TV.
The odds I know you aren’t great;
So really, I can’t quite relate.
Maybe, that’s why it won’t sink in:
I could easily be where you’ve been.
The story started from the crash
My, you must have been in a rush.
They say you skipped some traffic lights;
But come on, we all do that, right?
You got distracted, didn’t look-
But that second was all it took.
What caught your eye is still unknown:
A passerby? A ringing phone?
I should be alarmed by all this:
I can own up to these habits;
But my mind doesn’t process that
Before it grabs the juicy parts:
Your flashy car is torn up bad;
Was there alcohol in your blood?
I’m so consumed by what I see,
I miss the forest for the trees.
See, though the team reported live,
They didn’t show your mother cry.
They didn’t tell me how much hope
Your family invested in your growth;
And though they zoomed in on the scene,
They couldn’t capture shattered dreams.
They didn’t feature those you love
To tell what they’ll no longer have.
The crew won’t film your funeral day
So this news clip leaves me unchanged.
Your story seems a distant thing;
Like one drop in a wide ocean.
Since I insist on being dense,
There’ll be no rainbow through this mess.
I spread the story: Facebook; text;
Yet I could very well be next.
You’ve passed on; but the tragic truth
Is that I’ve failed to learn from you.