about the couple who 'should' have been on flight MH17?

[JaneFonda]

In the news, the British couple and their baby who swapped off flight MH17 to take another one instead.

In the interview, they said that 'someone must have been watching over them'.

AIBU to find this incredibly disrespectful? I feel so angry that they are suggesting that 'someone' or a God or something was watching over them, but not over the 298 people who died.

God or someone watching over us can be just a notion in those turn of phrases. 'There but for the grace of god go I' doesn't literally mean I believe in a god who's grace has stopped that happening for me. Quite the opposite - it means you as a human being as empathising with other human beings and putting yourself in their place, not feeling superior.

Fireside I agree.
And musemum too. Religion seems to involve an element of judging as you say.

I thought their comments were a bit insensitive as well, but they were in shocks and the news crews shouldn't have interviewed them so soon.

I think YABU.

They are in a huge state of shock and disbelief I think.

Sometimes we say things that could be taken in the wrong way.

I don't think this family meant to cause any offence.

I'd be questioning why reporters thought it was appropriate to shove a camera in their faces and question them.

I noticed they said it. I jarred with me.
But as PP have said, they were in shock.

Its a dreadful, dreadful thing to have happened.

What really pisses me off is that it keeps being referred to as a 'plane crash'.

It wasn't a plain crash, it was targeted by missiles!

*plane

I blame the reporters and their endless need for human interest. As if we cannot understand what has happened without this kind of angle.

I had a near miss yesterday (idiot coming full speed round blind corner on wrong side of road). A few seconds difference and I would have been just as dead as all the poor people in that plane. I don't think I'd have made much sense for a few minutes afterwards, but fortunately no-one was trying to interview me.

Fireside I agree.
And musemum too. Religion seems to involve an element of judging as you say.

Oh dear Haunted I don't think you can agree with both of us, because I thought I was disagreeing with musemum.

Maybe I misunderstood musemum, maybe I'm being misunderstood, maybe I misunderstand myself. Who knows any more.

YABU. Being pleased you survived is not the same as saying you're pleased others didn't.

What should they have said? Really? If they simply said they were lucky, some people would jump on them for that - and the implication that they were more 'deserving'.

I think they'll be traumatised over this.

It's all so, so sad. Reserve your anger for the people behind it, eh?

The report I've just read, said that they were turned away from the flight as there was only one seat available.

common, they must be feeling a mixture of stuff, try to be relieved for them

Flights are routinely overbooked and its generally first come first served so if this couple checked in towards the end of check in time they just missed out on seats and it was nothing to do with oxygen masks which really aren't that much use when things start to happen anyway. There's an art to working out how many people you think will be no shows and how many of your overbooked passengers will actually get a seat.

So many children on board - its the holiday season in general.

I'm with you, OP. I did not see this particular interview but phrases along those lines ("someone was watching out for us," "it wasn't our time to go") do strike me as implying that no one was watching out for the people who died. I completely understand that someone would experience a sense of intense relief and shock to be in the position of avoiding such a tragedy. But I would that is down to luck rather than divine intervention.

The guy was thinking of his wife and his new born child. He was probably in shock. I imagine every word you have ever uttered was considered from all angles before exiting you mouth because otherwise YABU and a bit mean.

People say odd things when trying to make sense of something unfathomable.

I don't think they've said anything that millions of others haven't said at one time or another.

A few years I had booked a train ticket but had to bring it forward by one day at the last minute. The following day, which was my original travel date, the train I should have been on crashed.

Several people who knew I should have been on it said similar things to me. You must have a guardian angel, someone was watching over you, not your time etc.

I don't think anyone meant any disrespect to those who actually had been on the train though.

And very possibly the people who should have been on that plane are feeling survivors guilt and looking for a reason why they were 'spared' for want of a better word, when others weren't because it's their only way of coping with the shock right now.

People do take meaning from life-changing and shocking events and struggle to express how they feel.

Personally I take more comfort in random chance or random luck than in guardian angels and having 'someone' watch over me but I can understand why this couple might feel the way they do at this particular moment in time.

YABU and very silly as well as disrespectful yourself.

Being bumped off a flight at short notice is extremely annoying.

Being bumped off a flight when you're travelling with a small baby is annoying plus.

If that'd been the AIBU, to kick off when we were not allowed to fly, it probably would've been a unanimous YANBU.

This couple are clearly shattered and shocked and in response to a direct question they admit they feel amazingly thankful and that by a quirk of fate that seemed bad, it turned out miraculous for them, so 'someone' (not God) must've been looking out for them, because they can't explain it. Their relief must be immeasurable.

How anyone can translate that into being disrespectful for the poor unfortunate victims of this horrendous event is beyond me :(

Yabu its just a common phrase don't look too far into it

Actually OP, I agree with you. I can understand the sentiment if they had narrowly avoided a car crash, or some other incident in which they may have been killed but no-one else was, but I agree - what about the other 298 poor sods? Men, women, children: families, friends, all loved by someone. Who was watching over them.

I found the whole interview extremely distasteful. The thing I was thinking was that these people are not going to want to revisit/rewatch that interview in the future. While I can fully understand how human it is to be very very relieved understatement I just felt profoundly unvomfortable watching it. There is no place for smiling and laughing when 300 people have died.

It's official. You can officially no longer say anything, in any circumstances, without someone being offended or feeling disrespected. FFS!

RockWhore, we're not talking about parent parking spaces or stay-at-home mothers. 300 people died on a plane that was shot out of the sky. All this "Cuh! You can't say anything anymore. It's political correctness gone mad!" is beyond crass.

Yanbu . Doubt they're in as much shock as the families of those who died .