Not THAT Bad

While reading a newspaper on Sunday I was saddened by the article about a horrible automobile wreck in Maryland (8 killed as car slams into crowd at street race). The wreck was apparently caused by two individuals who had been illegally racing their cars on a remote Maryland highway. Smoke from their cars impaired the vision of a driver on the highway and the car plowed into the bystanders watching the race.

While the accident was indeed a tragedy, one of the comments of the local residents shook me even more. The resident said, "Everyone knows about it, but I've never heard of it getting this bad."

It caused me to stop and think about my own situation. Are there poor habits, attitudes or behaviors that I may be rationalizing by saying "It's not THAT bad?" Are there potentially damaging situations occuring in my workplace that I need to address now-BEFORE someone gets hurt or irreversible damage is done? As I am sure the resident can now attest, standing by and doing nothing is not the best course of action. It may not seem THAT bad now, but things can certainly change quickly.