  On my way to the city yesterday I saw a really bad car accident. The kind that you aren't really sure that everyone will live through. There were like 3 or 4 ambulances and fire trucks and so on. I didn't look for details because I would have fainted and caused another one.
Well this nasty accident reminds me of how good we really have it here. Sounds stupid but... In 1998 I was in Nigeria. It was still under military rule and just to drive a few miles down the freeway you were stopped, questioned, scared shitless, and extorted for as much as they could get from you easily. They all carried machine guns you know the "I will fucking kill you " kind. I never saw anything like it. OK OK to the point. I was traveling at night from a small town called Ile Ife to Lagos. There were 6 of us in an older Mercedes, so it was a full car. As we were going we hit some traffic on the freeway, it was dead stopped actually. I could see a fire on the other side of the freeway and heard people screaming. As we got closer to the fire I could see a minivan on its side engulfed in flames. The driver of the van was dead, on fire, his body still in the position on sitting even though it was laying on the ground.
I was sick with panic and then it just got worse. People that were in the van that had escaped with their lives were walking along the side of the road crying bleeding, their clothes ripped off along with some of their skin. I started crying and begging my husband to let some of them into the car. Like I said it was full really full I was on his lap in the front seat. I said lets get out and let Daddy take them to the hospital. This was also in the middle of nowhere. The sides of the freeway were virtually jungle and there was nothing within miles and miles. Like I said before its not the safest of countries to be in to begin with and not the best place for a lone white woman to be standing in the middle of the night along the side of the dark spooky animal infested jungle.
Still I wanted to get out. I wanted those people to have my seat. I couldn't convince anyone that my idea was even close to sane. Humph. For once my whiteness was an issue. I said "where in the fuck are the ambulances goddamnit! " Well my husband being from Nigeria as well as the driver, his uncle, they were not fazed as I guess they are accustomed to watching people die HOLY FUCK SHIT MOTHERFUCK.
The passengers in the back seat were 2 of our friends from El Salvador and my father in law. I was LOOSING MY SHIT, while everyone else was mildly irritated. I said give them money at least and my husband said something along the lines of "If you give a monkey a diamond he has no use for it" his ass is notorious for having some dumb ass shit to say at the most inappropriate time.
We eventually passed the accident, we passed to injured crying,DYING people, and drove off towards the next stick up station that for the first time in weeks was way way too far from where I wished they were. That was over 6 years ago and I still feel sick at the thought of it. There are many many things that I learned on that trip but this one really makes me appreciate something I probably took for granted everyday of my life before that trip. I mean we all kinda think we have it good here but you might not really "know" how good we really do have it. 
