Consequences

Consequences.

My dictionary defines consequences as a result, upshot, outcome, effect, repercussion, ramification, corollary, concomitant, aftermath, aftereffect.

Why am I thinking about consequences? We live on top of a five hundred foot bluff that is so steep you have to crawl on your hands and knees to climb it on foot in most parts. The road leading to the top has a county number but is called the Suicide Road by the locals. That’s because if you misjudge and drive off the road you’ll either slam into a rock face or fly off into the valley below. There are no shoulders. No room for error. Neither action will have a good outcome.

This road never should have been built where it is; there was an alternate, more sensible location choice. But apparently, (seven decades ago) someone on the city council with some clout decided he wanted the road built where it now lies for reasons long forgotten. The city continues to pay for this mistake over and over and over. Consequences of a poor decision.

The high side of the road erodes continually, dumping rocks onto the road surface. Public works must clean them up. The road is a slippery nightmare in bad weather. Several times a year people lose control and crash through the guardrails that must then be repaired. Today I saw that the public works crew has added a new lighted sign warning of the lowest hairpin curve. The guardrail at one end of the curve is smashed and waiting repair.

For every action there is a reaction. We do not live in a vacuum.                                    

For every behavior there is a consequence. Our thoughts become our words, our words grow into our actions. Our lives are the sum total of our actions.

Consequences. They are inescapable.