At Least It Was Diverse, Part Ii

...I was working construction jobs, there was a big job for the trains, to replace an old viaduct that shook in the wind and the rain. The government gave money and put strings on it, that’s what they do, wanted to ensure diversity in the engineers and the crew. They especially wanted women, to boost their numbers up in STEM, problem was when we went looking we had much trouble finding them. The best ones were hired already, and not many women remained, but they scraped together a team, only one had worked on a train. for two years there was much planning. I heard rumblings from above, consultants said things were amiss, the design was not strong enough. Even rumors design reviews were ignored to not seem sexist, but most figured it sour grapes, there’s no way the state would do this. We built the bridge that they designed, laid tracks so the trains could fly by, there was a ceremony when it opened with a great train ride. And for four months things seemed allright, trains went by without a mistake, until a strut snapped in high wind, causing a central truss to break just as a commuter train came, it fell to the valley below, investigators went out there, the reason they wanted to know. They found bolts that were much too short, and metal that was much too thin, foundations not set deep enough to resist much in gusting wing. And then began the whole scandal, when leaks from the state did reveal reviews rushed through, oversight lax, they knew there were flaws in the steel. But politics are politics when it comes to choosing who works, sure, ninety-seven people died, but at least their deaths were diverse.