What prompted this? The death of a man and the potential for the death of a sibling. My sister was involved in a car crash earlier today. She is fine, but she could have just as easily have not been. She was driving to work in the morning on a major highway, and the car in front of her smashed into a delivery truck parked on the shoulder, where a man was changing the tire of that delivery truck. My sister tried to avoid the car spinning out of control, but she couldn't stop in time and slammed into the car. Her airbag didn't deploy and she slammed her chest into the steering wheel. Her car was towed off to be repaired and she was taken to the hospital in an ambulance to get x-rays, which showed her to be okay. She has bruises and seatbelt burns, neck and back strain, and she hurts a lot. But she is alive.
Which is more than can be said about the man who was changing the tire. My sister did not want to go near the man's body, but she said he the way he was laying didn't look quite right, and it looked like he might be missing one of his legs, and there was something a few feet away that looked like a boot but could have been more. She didn't get confirmation that he was dead, but she felt pretty sure that he was. Regardless, the picture below is the car that hit the truck and the man...
THAT kind of damage takes a LOT of force. And if the man was struck by this vehicle...well, I can't imagine him surviving. Just like that, a man's life is ended. Some idiot is not watching what they are doing on the road, they are distracted at just the wrong time, regardless of whatever it was that distracted them...and now a man is gone. His whole life, over...and the lives of whoever knows him, loves him...changed forever. While I was upset at my sister's ordeal, I was even more upset about this unknown man...the loss of a precious life that I didn't even know about before today. And you know what? My sister, and my mom, and my other sisters...they, too, were more upset about that than anything else. So I know other people feel that life is pretty darn precious as well...but still, it bears reminding. And so does paying attention on the road. And anywhere for that matter. Let's leave death up to mother nature, please.
To whoever that unknown man is...please rest in peace. And know that you are missed even by complete strangers.
Update on 10/13/11:
The man who was struck down was NOT killed, I am very happy to say. He does have life-threatening injuries and will lose both of his legs (and may have already lost one when he was struck), but he is alive. I am thankful that another life was not lost. His life will be completely different, but at least he has a life still.
Oh, and anyone who read the Courier Post article that was printed on October 11th, they got the information mixed up...it was NOT my sister who ran into the truck and the man. She was the second car involved. *sigh*
No comments:
Post a Comment