I’m Not That Flexible

I’ve just finished watching a recording of this past Sunday’s episode of In Plain Sight. It was about a bridge designer who had to go into witness protection after testifying that a bridge that had collapsed and killed many had had it’s design changed by the builder. The sad ending to the story, and why it hit me so hard, was that the man realized that the collapse of the bridge had less to do with the changes the builder had made than it had to do with a logical error he himself had been making throughout his career.

In the end, he stood on the first bridge he had ever built – now packed with explosives and wired to a dead man’s switch in his hand – explaining to the shows stars why it had to end this way. He said, “I just can’t go from being a man who was never wrong to being one that was never right. I’m not that flexible.”

Man, I can relate to that. Pride is a very powerful thing.

I want ice water.