My Photo
Name:
Location: Telford, Pennsylvania, United States

My main blog: Ramblings generally focuses on telling a story via photography and words. These stories generally center around family, nature, and church although sometimes just about life in general. I also have a blog entitled Fingerprints. I post less frequently in Fingerprints. It serves as a catch all of anything that does not go in my Ramblings blog including memes, quizzes, and reports on books and movies.



The road awaits
Time doesn't
The road beckons
Time steps forward

Will we move
In step with time?
Will we step forward
Shaping our time?

Will we take time
To see the present?
Will we explore the past
And understand our heritage?

Will we laugh?
Will we wonder?
Will we touch?
Will we feel?

Time flies on
We have choices
Shall we go fast?
Shall we go slow?

We shall go forward
But we will choose the pace
We may dance with all our heart
Or bathe ourselves in a setting sun

Thursday, January 12, 2006

The Haj and massive crowds

Today I was reading on Yahoo! News about the death and injuries confirmed from the Haj. It reported 345 deaths and an additional 289 in hospitals for injuries. The deaths were reported as resulting from people in the crowds crushing each other to death. That's fearsome.

But many years ago, I felt close to that when I was leaving a Promise Keepers' Convention in either Baltimore or Washington, D.C. [I forget which city it was.] But everybody was leaving the arena at the same time with most heading towards the nearest escalators for the subway system. As we had to narrow for entering the escalators, I just about had the breath crushed out of me. And you could not stop moving; it was skin to skin people. That was scary; I've never been in such a crowd since.

2 Comments:

Blogger San Nakji said...

It's awful and it happens every year. When you get 2 million people together in such a small space, I suppose it is bound to happen. A lot more deaths than normal this year though.

Thursday, January 12, 2006 2:48:00 PM  
Blogger Tim Rice said...

I think you're right, san nakji. Crowd control is difficult.

Thursday, January 12, 2006 8:13:00 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home