Context: It's all in the Meaning!
A couple of nights ago, my wife and I were on our way (late, of course) to an appointment when we came on a short traffic backup. There was already a police car ahead of us with its lights flashing, and just as we got to the scene, a second police car and a fire truck arrived; the fire truck completely blocking the road for a few seconds. The traffic pause gave us a chance to search for clues as to what the problem was. From the three or four cars all pointing different directions, we assumed it was a multi-car crash, but there was someone lying by one of the cars. Was it a pedestrian accident, then? Our concern and sympathetic pain increased. The fire truck moved forward a bit so cars could squeeze by, and we slowly passed the scene: It wasn't a pedestrian; it was a motorcyclist. We involuntarily cringed again. We weren't sure, but it looked like a woman. Her blue motorcycle lay on its side just below the driver's side door of one of the cars. Lying by her bike, she was prostrate and covered by a blanket as first responders administered aid.
My wife and I spoke for a few minutes about the accident, wondering how it happened and hoping the rider had been wearing a helmet—which you don't have to do in Colorado.
Yesterday morning, wanting to check on the motorcyclist, I turned first to the on-line version of our local newspaper, then to Google. Our local paper is a weekly, so I doubted there would be news of the accident yet, but I looked anyway. My expectation was spot on, with no coverage of the injured woman. Instead, the local paper was brim and excitedly breathless with current local coverage of the first Denver-area IKEA store opening.
It was Google's turn. I typed: "motorcycle". . . "accident". . . "our town" . . . "colorado." The listings that appeared were unexpected, starting with: "Places for motorcycle accident near" our town, Colorado. Google couldn't give me information about how the woman was doing or even that there had been an accident. But they substituted an "added service": Now I know the appropriate places to have a motorcycle accident, if I ever decide to have one. Then came the shocker (but maybe it shouldn't have been): The first page of google hits–including all information under "Places for motorcycle accidents"—were links to personal injury attorneys (one lawyer even offered a YouTube video, which I did not watch). There actually was one exception: an expert witness who reconstructs motorcycle accidents. I didn't want to look at additional pages. Google had helped me understand it all: Who would have thought the only appropriate places in our town for motorcycle accidents were at the offices of personal injury attorneys. I guess it makes sense: It would be after all most convenient for the attorneys. They can just come out of their offices as you lie on the ground, get the information they need, have you sign appropriate documents and immediately begin legal action. Efficient, don't you think?
The second bit of news, and it was unexpectedly good for me, was a friend of mine was among those personal injury attorneys listed—I knew he was an attorney, but didn't know he did personal injury work. So, all of this fortuitous googling simplifies my life: If I ever take up motorcycle riding and choose to have an accident, thanks to a simple Google search, I know exactly outside of whose office I'll have it. It will be convenient for my friend at least—and isn't that what friendship's all about?
Without tongue in cheek, my search, of course, says something about us–that litigious lines begin even in hyper-link space. But, it also reminds us of something just as important about the dichotomy that is the Internet: it has the power to add order, information and meaning to our lives, and it is just as good at giving us useless data out of context, minutiae and often highlighting the unimportant. In the end, we still need the humans—we're still responsible for making sense out of the world around us, stewarding it well, and caring for one another.
Most importantly today, my thoughts and prayers are still with all those involved in the accident. I hope they're all going to be fine.
