I35 and the Mandate of Heaven

First off, it must be terrifying to be driving on a high bridge and have it collapse while you’re mid span. I’m deeply sorry for the victims and their families and friends.

I had a friend, Stephanie, who died a few years ago, but who had a lifelong fear of driving across bridges. Since our group of friends lived in three different parts of the Bay Area, her phobia frustrated all of us. After all, it usually meant that we had to drive to wherever Stephanie was and she had a more or less ready excuse for not going to any events that were on our side of the bridge if she didn’t want to. Anyway after that bridge in Minneapolis fell into the Mississippi, I’m reminded that Stephanie’s phobia wasn’t so irrational after all.

In the meantime in sort of replay of Katrina, there’s already a media war going on between Republicans and Democrats about whose fault it was. They haven’t finished counting the bodies of course, but the President managed to mix paying respects to the victims this morning with castigating Congress for not passing his version of the Federal Budget.

“I’m so sorry for your loss….btw since I’ve got your attention let me remind you to vote Republican this fall.”

It wasn’t the most presidential way to handle the matter, but since the 2008 Republican convention is in Minnesota, I’m sure they’ll make things right before next summer. The Democrats are pointing out that the Republican Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, vetoed a gas tax that would have financed bridge reconstruction roughly a year ago (Pawlenty did sign a 1.1 billion dollar appropriations bill that included highway and bridge repairs though- these things are always a little more complex than the talking points ever hint at) and that President Bush shortchanged a highway funding bill two years ago as well. Fwiw, there was a 2005 American Society of Civil Engineers report that gave America’s infrastructure a D grade.

The Chinese believed in something called the “Mandate of Heaven”. In very rough terms, they saw natural events like storms, earthquakes, and comets as nature’s commentary on whether or not the right folk were in charge. In February 2003 while the Administration was preparing for the invasion of Iraq, the Challenger Space Shuttle fell out of the sky. With my ancient Chinese hat on, I saw the Challenger as heaven’s message that American technology wasn’t quite as fearsome or advanced as we thought. It was an Icarus moment, yet the administration pressed on.

Four years later, a bridge fell into the Mississippi during rush hour. It just happens that the Mississippi serves as America’s river, the waterway that symbolically divides east from west in our culture. New Orleans and Minneapolis are the two cities that mark the southern and northern ends of the river. For close to six years, my ears have rung with reverbrating reminders of threats from beyond our borders. If Michael Chertoff can have gut feelings, I can have them too. Could there be any clearer message that while we are obsessed with threats from the outside, our society is crumbling from the inside?

All those years my friend Stephanie was afraid to drive over bridges, I speculated that her phobia was metaphorical. Though she was warm, thoughtful, and always as interested in you as she seemed interested in talking about herself, she became more and more socially isolated over time. When she died, it took three days before the authorities could figure out who to notify. I suppose it’s not that strange that the I35 collapse causes me to think about Stephanie. I just never thought I’d be identifying with her phobias quite this strongly. In the meantime, I suspect that nature isn’t just talking to Al Gore. I think the I35 disaster is trying to tell us something more than “fix your bridges”.

chancelucky