Be Grateful.

I saw a man get killed today.

I was driving to work. I has just passed my office and was waiting in the left lane of the main divided street in Nasr City in order to make the U-turn (which is legal and encouraged) to pull into my garage. A handsome boy, about 25, clean shaven and smiling, in a business suit and tie, passed in front of my car, on his way across the street. He gave a thankful half-wave to show appreciation that I made a full stop for him, and once he had safely hopped up onto the median, I inched forward.

Then, for one moment, the whole world stopped.

Everyone saw the ancient white car barreling down from at least 300 feet away. The squealing brakes did nothing except draw everyone's helpless attention. Women screamed. I screamed. Except for our screaming, everyone was paralyzed.

Then came the worst sound I have ever heard, and the boy was suddenly airborne--he was thrown--and I'm not exaggerating--about 25 feet straight up up up, his body rolling and rolling in midair.

He landed on the median, arm's reach away from the car that had hit him, and no more than five feet from mine. The moment he landed, the world re-started in triple speed.

People jumped out of and over cars, the traffic vanished, and before I could process what was happening I was parked, in my garage, shaking.

I waited until I had regained the manual dexterity to take the key out of the ignition, dry my face, and walk out of the garage into the street.

The street was packed with people gathered around the scene. Traffic on the normally 6 lane wide road was inching past on the right side. AND THERE WERE NO AMBULANCES AND NO POLICE AND NO ONE WAS CALLING THEM.

I crossed the street--cautiously--to continue on my way to work. A mere 50 feet past the scene of the accident, life was exactly normal. Girls were drinking sodas, guys were being lecherous, and people were zig-zagging their way through traffic, completely oblivious.

Once in the office, I sat down with my coffee to read the news and calm down before getting down to work.

277 People killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza...
37 voters killed in a polling station in Pakistan...
24 hitchhikers killed in a truck crash in Bangaldesh...
14 Children killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan...

And I pulled out my notepad and wrote my one single New Year's resolution:

Be Grateful.