The World is Not Perfect...

And by the world, I mean specifically Disney World. Let's clarify that right now.

2am. As in 2am today. Monorail crash. The red and purple monorails. They didn't crash and flip off the tracks or anything. But the driver of the purple monorail is dead.

So here's what happened- of course, due to the 4th of July, the World runs fireworks at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios late. Purple monorail was at the station (Epcot, judging from the photos) picking up passengers. Red monorail was done for the night, so red monorail's driver began backing up the train to move it into position to head to the place where monorails are stored (neat place, like a big garage- it's on our MK bus route). Somehow, red monorail did not get word that purple monorail was still operating on the tracks. So at 15mph, here it comes backing up.... straight into the cab of the purple monorail.

The driver of purple was barely older than me- 21 year old Austin Wuennenberg. He was a junior at Stetson University and was from here in Florida (Kissimmee). Nice looking young man, from the photo on Fox News's website. Apparently he had minimal training in monorail operations. Great.... Disney, hope you're happy. Your stupidity cost a colleague of mine his life.

No, I didn't personally know Austin. But I bet I've met him before. I frequented the monorails a lot when Shaun was still here- I used to always take them to Epcot, MK, the TTC, the resorts.... I knew most of the drivers because I usually sat up front. Now I'd be willing to bet monorail operations will be down for weeks, and riding in the front will be a thing of the past. My brother always wanted to get to ride up front.... but he likely never will get to. What a shame.

Disney is not perfect. Sorry to let the people who think it is know that. Disney is run by men. If God ran Disney, it would be perfect. But He doesn't; men do. Therefore, anything man runs is naturally fallible. Things break, things falter.... but nothing should cause anyone to die.

I only hope Austin's family gets the closure and peace they deserve. Disney had better step back and take a good hard look at how they treat their cast members. They need to take off their rose-colored glasses and see just how things really are.

For those of you interested in the story, here are the links-

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/orange_news/070509deadlymonorailaccident

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/local/070509MonorailCrashVictimRembered

And though I didn't exactly know you.... Rest in peace, Austin.

Much love.