we are dropping the important balls

The airplane carrying my wife and daughter just narrowly avoided a collision due to an air traffic control screw-up in DC.

How is this possible?

This morning at DCA their plane was hurtling down the runway for takeoff, cleared by air traffic control, when suddenly the pilot needed to slam on the brakes to avoid being crashed into by another plane landing on a crossing runway.

“I thought for sure we were going to hit something with how abruptly we stopped”, she texted me.

They needed to return to the gate for a full plane inspection, and subsequently all the passengers were forced to deplane.

Guys, come on. It’s 2024. We have computers than can talk, cars that drive themselves, reusable rockets that land on a dime automatically…

But airplanes full of people almost crash into each other on a crystal clear day on the runway of an airport in the US capital??

Seriously??

This kind of thing simply cannot happen.

Yet… how often does it happen? Something like this probably won’t make any news or result in any kind of changes to procedures, systems, people, or anything else.

How much of this kind of thing do you see in your daily life that just gets ignored and brushed under the rug? The can kicked further down the road?

That’s why I’m writing this.

I’m so tired of the simple stuff falling apart all around us while everyone is distracted by shiny new things, petty arguments, nonsense culture wars, power games, virtue signaling, and cat videos.

In my day-to-day business it’s buildings. I see a non-stop parade of buildings that are falling apart for no good reason.

But it’s not just buildings.

It’s roads. It’s bridges. It’s airline safety!

It’s institutions. It’s health and wellbeing. It’s culture.

It’s financial health and stability. It’s government function.

Cool, we have (all new!!) iPads that are thinner than anyone ever wanted. But planes are nearly crashing into each other for no reason?

People… we are dropping all the balls.

Get it together.