Quiet chaos

It was a calm pleasant morning on Monday, cloudy but mild. I was awake by 6:20 and into the shower half an hour early. I made my lunch and got out the door a few minutes after 7, 40 minutes early. I used my head start to go for breakfast at Joe's Diner, a block away.

Being out early is like a blessing. The sidewalks are empty, the traffic still fairly light. That morning was gentle, fresh and alive. I felt grateful for our peaceful world where there are no government oppression, no gangs, no squalor, no violence.

I made my way from the back door up the hill through the parking lot to Burrard St. I had just reached the street when I noticed a Busters tow truck hoisting up an illegally parked car. I was thinking to myself how fortunate I am not to be a car owner.

The driver hopped into the cab and began to drive away just as I was along side of him. He was towing the car from the rear, but its front wheel steering had not been locked. As the driver gently pulled away from the curb the front wheels turned and the front end of the car swung into the curb. As gentle as the morning breeze, it rolled up onto the sidewalk and hit the parking meter beside me, bending it flat to the ground, but not before it tore a size-able hole in the side of the car's front end.

The driver got out and calmly surveyed the extensive damage as I continued on. It was a simple mistake with undoubtedly huge consequences to follow He had ruined not only the side of the car, the parking meter, his day and his week, but perhaps his employment as well.

Chaos comes suddenly, without warning or provocation, and the damage is extensive and non-retractable. My life is peaceful and consistent for now, but any day chaos could arrive in the form or a fall or an accident I cannot step out of the way of. It will be much like this.