Very few Saturdays do I find myself away from Kriegers car dealership, the company that employs me. However, on one such Saturday, I could not go to work due to a prior arrangement with the National Guard. Once a month, the National Guard calls in all of the people of their company for an event called the Recruitment Sustainment Program (RSP). However, on my way to RSP, on that fateful Saturday, I found myself the victim of a rather ironic incident. The incident left my mother worried, but after the fact I found it rather comical.

 

October 24th, 2020, at around half past seven in the morning, I grabbed my bag and water bottle, and headed towards my car. I needed to report at a quarter after eight in Davenport. Living in De Witt, I headed out at least 30 minutes prior since I also like to give myself some wiggle room. I threw everything into the passenger seat and turned on some music for me to jam to.

 

I shifted the car into gear and headed towards the highway. I’d say that I have a “lead foot,” but I don’t gain anything from exaggerating. To tell the truth, I just have a speeding problem. 

 

I began to think about the day ahead of me: How would I do on my test? What would we go over? et cetera. I eventually found myself coming up on Eldridge, and in the distance, I spotted a rather large bird. As I continued to drive, I also spotted a dead animal that must have been run over. Thinking nothing of it, I just continued to drive. However, as I was just about to pass the dead animal, my windshield suddenly became obstructed by the large bird I had spotted earlier. 

 

Up close I realized this bird was a Bald Eagle, however, that was the least of my concerns because shortly after it was out of my windshield, I found myself no longer facing the road. When the bird startled me, I accidentally jerked the steering wheel and was heading towards the median. I still remember my last words before my tires left the pavement: “Oh sh*t!” I attempted to correct my course, but with the morning dew in the grass, and my high speeds, I began to spin out instead. I ended up drifting on both sides, and at one point ended up exiting the median—on the wrong side of the road—before drifting back into the median and coming to a stop. I put the car in park, and gathered myself for a second before continuing towards RSP.

 

By the time I reached my destination, I had gathered my thoughts and called my mother to tell her what had happened. Later, I found myself spotting the irony of the event. On my way to train for how to protect the land of the free, I ended up being attacked by our country’s symbol of freedom. 

 

H.P. Lovecraft once said, “Even from the greatest of horrors, irony is seldom absent.” I can certainly understand the meaning of this phrase.