"Fear makes us feel our humanity..."

You've probably heard by now of the 11 year old girl in New Jersey (pictured) that fell off of the 10 story ferris wheel yesterday and died. I took special interest since I have a terrible fear of ferris wheels. (Actually putting my life in ANY carny's hands is something I don't choose to do any more, and when DD rides at the annual local fair, I just have to pray... ) Evidently accident rides are a lot more prevalent than I originally thought. I googled "death on ferris wheel" to get the photo, and LOTS of accidents pop up. I used to work with a gal at the Express-News who's younger sister was paralyzed in early high school from the local fair rides in a small suburb of San Antonio, and I've never forgotten about that. I used to ride all the rides like most kids do, but as I got older, I started watching the carny's face as he would speed up the ride to get his kicks trying to make kids vomit, and it occurred to me that THIS is the person you're entrusting your body (and your life) with. A few years ago in our small town fair, one of the workers brought her baby and stuck him in a play pen on this dusty spot right under this blaring speaker that was deafening. I was so upset, I asked her to please move her child because he could go deaf. She couldn't care less. She said he already had lost a lot of hearing and said it wasn't worth it. It's all I could think about that night, but I digress. My questions are: did this young girl that somehow fell out of the ferris wheel have a seizure? Was she suicidal? Did she stand up and lose her balance? She was alone in the gondola, but certainly was old enough to understand the rules and the danger of a 10 story ride. I just don't get it. And it's a pointless death... It just reaffirms what I already knew.

I will never get on another ferris wheel...