iro-ny

Iro-ny, n, from the latin 'ironia'; from the greek 'eironia'; from 'eiron' meaning dissembler

- 'incongruity between the actual results of a sequence of events and the expected result'


So here's the deal: despondent man decides that he can't go on because:

a) he can't bear seeing his ex-wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/sheep with another lover/partner;
b) he lost his job due to his 3rd failed drug test and can't bear to face his family;
c) he just COULD NOT accept that Brad & Jennifer 'didn't make it';
d) he realizes that it was a bad decision to borrow money from 'vito' and wager the whole wad on Pittsburgh to crush New England

In keeping with his melancholy decides that the only way to 'go on' is to drive his SUV to a rail crossing and park it there to await his fate at the front of a diesel locomotive (or maybe electric - does it really matter?)

Anway, somewhere along this path of critical thinking the guy chickens out and decides that he can't kill himself. Meanwhile his SUV is now stuck on the tracks because he didn't actually drive to the crossing and leave the vehicle there, he went further down where there was no street.

The commuter train approaches, hits his SUV (as he watches) bolts into the air, hits a stationary frieght car sitting on some siding and then clips another commuter train heading in the opposite direction, killing (at last count) 11 innocent, unassuming people on their way to 'another day at the office'.

Now our brave, honourable soul is being arraigned on 10 counts of murder 'with special circumstances' which means the death penalty is an option if found guilty. Due process has to run its course but, why not just save the taxpayer's some money and facilitate the grieving process. Why not just gas his a** now? He apparently already tried to slice his wrists and stab himself in the hospital. Why not just help him along?

For those of you subjects who can't see the stupidity, waste and pointless nature of this carnage and say 'well, shouldn't we try to help and understand his pain?', I think the District Attorney prosecuting the case summed up that stinkin' thinkin' this way,

"He's not going to engage my sympathy because he was despondent. His despondency doesn't move me," Cooley told The Associated Press.

Well, to my point:
- a coward who decides to take his own life; bails on the idea; kills 11 people, injures hundreds more, steals the lives of husbands, wives, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc., destroys millions of dollars in public (or private?) property, now faces the death penalty.

To me, that's i-ro-ny.