The 2005 film, Crash, won an Oscar for “Best Picture”, and is one of my favourite dramas. The movie follows several characters that are involved in negative interactions fuelled by racial differences and hate.
Watching these intense situations play out in fiction is thought-provoking. However, experiencing such conflicts first-hand is often very stressful. One-on-one confrontations between strangers, colleagues, friends, and, worst of all, family members, can be extremely detrimental to one’s personal equilibrium.
A person is like a particle moving along through space – if left to one’s own devices, one will continue along pleasantly, unaffected. This is predicted by Newton’s first law of motion, which says that an object in motion will only change velocity if a non-zero net external force acts on it. One way to think of Newton’s first law is that life would be dull if we just kept to ourselves. Going through life with constant velocity is no fun; human contact makes for a far more interesting journey.
One of the characters in Crash goes so far as to suggest that people seek out conflicts because they are bored or lonely – as though colliding into one another is a mechanism that people use to confirm they are still alive.
A life that is completely devoid of conflict is boring. On the other hand, a life that is filled with destructive interactions is too stressful.
Like particles moving through space, or cars driving on the road, people moving through life will inevitably collide with one another. Usually, these collisions are positive, like a friendly hello from a neighbour. Sometimes, however, people collide in an explosive manner, like when colleagues disrespect one another.
