A passenger of a commuter train in Chicago was robbed of her iPhone last month at the Fullerton “L” stop. The offender struggled with her, eventually snatched her phone, and then fled as the train doors opened to the next stop. That is an unfortunate incident in itself but it doesn’t end there. When making his get-away, the robber ran towards an exit and pushed 68 year old Sally Katona-King as she was walking towards the train platform, knocking down the metal and concrete steps. Katona-King died as a result of her injuries.
Katona-King, a church Deacon ironically, was a victim of circumstance and proximity. Some may find peace in believing that “it was her time”; that her life’s end had been etched in stone with no alteration – that this was her fate. Others believe that life brings forth a sequence of events that unfold by chance and circumstance. They believe that every choice we make as we move throughout our day has an impact on the way things manifest.
Think of the precise moment a fatal car crash occurs. There is one millisecond in time that brings the crashing of two objects together and subsequently alters lives and history. Some people play events backwards after a tragedy and secretly wonder what would have happened if they had turned left instead of right or didn’t stop to get gas. Others avert tragedy and declare that they were supposed to have been in that building that caught fire or on that plane that crashed but something in their plan was altered thereby sparing their existence.
I don’t know where Ms. Katona-King was headed as she moved towards the platform on that fateful day, but what if she had paused to listen to the jazz musicians play on the platform or stopped to buy a newspaper, thereby altering the precise moment that the armed robber crossed her path?
My colleague and friend worked as a fatal traffic investigator for many years and his computer screen-saver had these words: “Your life could be 99.9% over and you don’t even know it.” I thought that was both morbid and disturbing until I reflected upon the powerful reality of that statement. Police officers come to understand this notion very well because we are front line to the gunshot or the crash that abruptly closes the chapter on a life.
Katona-King ultimately died because a thug stole a cell phone. I wonder what would happen if we turned back the clock and the owner of the cell phone altered her actions slightly. This cell phone robbery only made headlines because of the death that resulted but I can assure you that there are hundreds more incidents you don’t hear about because stealing a cell phone isn’t really newsworthy.
I frequently ride the train to Chicago with my family and I am very conscious of the unconsciousness of most of the commuters. Smart phones have become an appendage to the human body and most people walk with their head down, oblivious to their surroundings because they are engaged in a text conversation or they are scrolling through their news feed on Facebook. What if we could prevent these robberies by being aware of our surroundings? What if we made it difficult for those who prey upon others by being astutely conscious of the risks and threats around us?
I cannot say for sure if we have the ability to alter events. It might be a long shot to suggest that simple changes in our routines and habits might change the course of history. But I do believe that we can prevent being a victim by being conscious and smarter in the way we move through the world. Maybe we cannot alter fate, but I think there are some things we can do so we aren’t leaving everything to chance.