A couple of days ago, I saw this video from somewhere in the Northwestern part of India. Imagine a massively wide river running through the region, effectively blocking transit between two popular areas. They quickly figured they had to fix this problem, which they did. Back in the 19th century, when the British ruled India, they built a suspension bridge, wide enough for two people to walk side by side. It wasn’t perfect, but it seemed to do the trick.
However, it soon turned out that the bridge had a major problem. If too many people walked on it, it would start to rock. It doesn’t take a genius to see what might happen next, so they decided to limit the maximum number of people on the bridge, to fifteen at a time.
Fast-forward to the 21st century. The bridge has become ancient. At about 140 years old, it’s in need of repair. By this point though, the bridge has fallen into the hands of a private company, holding a fifteen year contract to manage and maintain it. Around this time, they start fixing the bridge, bragging to the media of the repairs costing about a quarter of a million euros, claiming the bridge would be safe for the next ten years at least.
As soon as the repairs were done, a great number of people came to take a look, with many of them deciding to cross the bridge. Amongst them, a bunch of twenty-somethings decide to have some fun. They start walking back and forth on the bridge, making it rock. At first it was just a bit of harmless fun, but then the bridge starts to groan. Oblivious to what’s happening, the twenty-somethings continue.
Suddenly, the bridge collapses. People fall into the river, screaming for help. The death toll is high. Over 135 people are killed. Who’s to blame for the collapse? Is it the twenty-somethings, the company in charge of managing the bridge, or the government giving up on their responsibility? I guess that’s up for you to decide. But going forward, it seems repairing a nineteenth century bridge doesn’t quite do it, given how it already showed problems back then. Even if it’s expensive, it seems to me they need to build a new bridge from the ground up, one able to handle way more people. Obviously I’m not an engineer, but I believe we’ve figured out how to build decent bridges by now… and that this disaster shouldn’t have happened. It seems to me that short-term thinking is to blame here, ultimately.
In any case, you can’t deny the symbolism in all of this, with many of the problems we’re facing nowadays. Somehow the desire for a quick fix, wanting a temporary solution to hold us over for the moment, always comes back to haunt us. Only, by that point it’s often too late. So let’s start investing in long-term solutions. Because if we don’t, there will be a price to pay.
Let’s end on a quote by George Carlin:
“People are wonderful. I love individuals. I hate groups of people. I hate a group of people with a ‘common purpose’. ‘Cause pretty soon they have little hats. And armbands. And fight songs. And a list of people they’re going to visit at 3am. So, I dislike and despise groups of people but I love individuals. Every person you look at; you can see the universe in their eyes, if you’re really looking.”
Kind regards
Vincent J. Dancet