I stood, mesmerized, at the top of the hill, staring at what was left of the interstate. The fact that the structure stood at all was amazing. With the damage it sustained, huge sections of its superstructure were just gone, and the massive amount of wrecked vehicles still on its decks I was surprised that a strong gust of wind didn’t blow it over. But there it stood. Two decks, 4 lanes each. The largest traffic jam I’ve ever seen. And, unless some other force changed the outcome, this massive concrete and steel monument to engineering would stay this way forever.
Then the realization hit me – every one of those vehicles had at least one person in them. Every one of them saw a split second of blinding light and then their lives ended. One question kept going through my mind: Was I the lucky one, or were they?