I am grateful. I am very grateful, and if you aren't grateful, talk to me. I believe I can help you see that you, too, have reason to be grateful, really.
And yet I have a complaint. I am tired of being told, "It could be worse." I know that. Really. It was Shakespeare who said, "The worst is not/So long as we can say, 'This is the worst.'"
I agree. However, I believe so often some bad, unpleasant, deadly things should never have happened.
One Saturday when I returned to a parking garage, a young woman and her son were standing outside looking rather forlorn. I spoke and went in the garage where I discovered someone had broken a window in three vehicles, one mine. I guessed the young lady was the owner of one car.
She had called the police and her husband. The rear passenger-side window of my car was smashed despite being in this covered garage near the Seattle Center. I learned that before I arrived, a policeman had come by, asked the woman if she was ok, and left. He did not look at the cars.
I reported that my car had been broken into. A policeman never came. Maybe the first policeman reported what had happened and they decided there was no need to send another officer. The other victim had called AAA, and so did I. Finally someone came as a result of her call. She was surprised that he was not in a tow truck.
He told us with all the activity that day the police were busy and probably would not come again. The woman refused to get in her car, but I started mine. Apologizing, the AAA man swept up some of the glass and left.
I called the garage owner; a nice voice took the message and promised someone would contact me: no one ever did. Then I started calling the 24-hour mobile glass companies. I called at least five. I got voice messages.
I called my insurance company, hoping they could recommend someone. The insurance company did not know anyone, but said I could file a claim. After almost three hours I left with no window and shards of glass in the car. Worse was the feeling of helplessness, innocence, I-did-not-do-anything, and I-would-never-do-that-to anyone. Now, checking parking sites more carefully (what do I look for?), wondering if the car is ok crosses my mind occasionally.
I do not know how many people told me how lucky I was that the damage was not worse, that it wasn't a car jacking, that I did not walk up while the thief was there. More than once someone told me that their steering was damaged, cd players, brief cases, and other belongings were stolen.
The consensus was this: be glad they did not take anything and you can drive your car. I had only to gather my strewn papers and the items in my swimming bag covered with the liquids in the bag and then clean the car.
"It could have been worse," they said.
Just as I was about to file the car prowl claim for $185, the insurance agent said, "I must tell you that if you file the claim your premium will be increased."
She said it would rise to $196 per year for three years. Since I had a claim-free record, she said, maybe I wanted to pay for the repair and not use the insurance.
This would not have been so frustrating had I not been told a few months earlier that the insurance company would give me $500 for the food which spoiled during the four-day blackout at my house. The freezers and refrigerators won't be so full again. All I had to do was discard the ruined food. Many folks were out of their homes much longer, loss more. It could have been worse.
The next month, that gym bag which the car vandal had left behind, was stolen at the swimming pool. I reported it and checked the lost and found. The bag was a gift from my sister. The special shampoos, hair products, towel, comb, goggles, gloves, suit - all could be replaced, and I later found the suit in the pool's lost and found.
These items are not expensive; replacements I now have. But when I go swimming I am reminded that someone removed my belongings. That I would not take someone's belongings does not matter. I know this incident is not on the radar. So many events could have been so much worse.
Into late October, someone broke in my house. I was home. For a number of reasons, I won't give many details. The alarm went off and frightened them away. I have only to replace the broken window and jimmied lock. I know that could have been worse. Several days later, I called the insurance company. Sure enough, you can guess what I was told. All of the insurance rules and how my cost is reduced because of the rules provide minimum comfort.
I know it could have been worse.
I am grateful for more than I could ever tell you. The amount of damages Americans report - use your imagination for the unreported damages - is probably beyond our wildest guesses. Not one of the incidents mentioned here had to happen, or should have happened.
Yet, every day countless persons experience the violations of this sort. I am very much aware that the world is filled with natural disasters, war, industrial and vehicle accidents, medical problems, abuse, the ill, the maimed, and the dead. It's all so much worse than what I listed above. These small inconveniences, and some of the major happenings, too, can be alleviated, eliminated, improved, and reduced. Though we cannot solve all of the world's problems, we can solve some of them and stop creating others.
You get no argument from me when you say, "It could be worse," but I am not about to give up the idea that in numerous instances it could have been better, much better.
Rainier Valley writer Georgia McDade may be reached at this link.[[In-content Ad]]
