The death of a student in India and the fatal bus accident that killed seven and injured dozens may be relatively small compared to bigger tragedies happening around the world. It maybe just one girl or one bus, but it is simply one too many for a small country like ours. However, as much as they are painful and they tear your hearts apart, the bitter truth is – they will keep happening more and more. Wider roads, faster vehicles and poor monitoring plus increased distractions from 3G/4G and smartphones.

They will  also keep happening because we don’t learn from them. We just shrug them off with simplistic conclusions and we don’t do enough reflections and investigations on them. I am not saying that they will stop happening if we do. But I can bet there will be less of such incidents if we are bit more careful. For, investigations are not just to find who is at fault – or to start a blame game. They also provide useful recommendations as to what we can do in future to minimise such tragedies. They make us learn from our mistakes. And mistakes we would have made because nothing happens out of nothing.

Otherwise, what have we learnt from all the suicides so far? Nothing. What have we learnt from all the bus accidents so far? Nothing. What have we learnt from Wangdue Dzong fire? Nothing. This is because we close the cases too soon. We just want to bury our heads in the sand. I have no idea why we do that all the time.

It might sound like I am nagging over a spilt milk – but I hope from now on we can go beyond the prayers and butter lamps, or Facebook condolences. If we really want to honour those who are gone for no reason, we should not let their deaths be in vain – at least. There should be thorough investigations. And findings should be kept as state secrets but released through the media – so that we are informed and people become wiser. I would assume that not all the fires are from short-circuits or from butter lamps; not all bus accidents are from mechanical failures or drunk driving and not all suicides are committed by the mentally ill.

Even after the initial shocks are over and tears have dried down, and a slice of our heart is gone forever with the embers of the cremation, a question will linger in our minds: Why did that happen? Was it a suicide? Was it the boulder that pushed the bus off-road? I hope we start getting some answers.

Otherwise to quote a cliche, history will repeat to those who don’t learn from it. My apologies if I am sounding bit heartless or ominous.
😵😵😵