This week I had my first personal experience of one of the grubbier aspects of life in the USA. My son and I were both served a summons accusing both of us of negligence with respect to a low speed accident my son had in my car last year. It was an accident most of us have had at one point or another. My son was stopped behind another vehicle at a junction. When the vehicle in front moved off my son released the foot brake and checked for traffic. The car in front had stopped and my son bumped into the other vehicle at no more than 5mph. There was no observable damage to either car.
We see from the police statement that the other motorist is claiming that my son knocked him forward 6 feet into the junction having hit him at high speed. The lawsuit is seeking damages for past and future mental anguish, medical bills and loss of work as the claimant is suffering extreme pain in head, body, arms and legs.
It’s all lies of course but knowing that doesn’t help. I barely slept the night after receiving the summons worrying that all we have worked for for 25 years was at risk to someone who has so little character as to be prepared to lie and sue and be backed by the lowest form of attorney. What they think they are doing I don’t know. In reality they are making peoples lives a misery and making insurance expensive for everyone. This of course is not a big insurance company or a wealthy individual they are hurting. It’s every hard working family who pays their bills, scrapes by in life and most importantly don’t lie and cheat for personal gain.
Anxiety ultimately turned to relief then anger when logic prevailed and the emotions calmed. Chances are he may get a settlement from the insurance company of a few grand cos that’s the simplest thing to do. He’ll probably think he’s clever and we’ll feel soiled by the experience. I have spoken to many friends and colleagues and perhaps the best observation I was given was that the worst you could wish on these individuals living at the bottom of the moral heap is that they merely live the lives they already live.
How does it relate to cruising? On the one hand it makes the urge to escape the rat race ever greater. Escaping the rat race is a common statement given by cruisers. I have to remind myself of the fortune of birth that dropped me in the rat race in the first place and made me able to survive long enough to have the ability to even contemplate escape. The majority of the worlds population have it far harder and have fewer choices. So I don’t like to think of it as escape. Perhaps the better word is transcend. Some day soon I hope we can declare we have done our time and it’s time for a change.
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