So this week we had a tragedy here in Utah. There was a family doing a hand cart reenactment along the same path that their great great grandpa had done. It was on a 2 lane road in a small town here in Utah. A pickup truck came over a rise with the sun directly in the drivers eyes and not being able to see the truck plowed into them and killed the grandpa and a 14 year old girl. Complete tragedy. There are those who blame the guy in the truck for not seeing them or driving different so as to not hit them. But as tragic as this is I have to say it was the stupid people "playing" in the middle of the road. Ever since I became a father I have told my kids not to play in the middle of the road. In this tragedy we have a family that is pulling handcarts or driving wagons down a road with children all around. There is no shoulder on the side and they have a car with flashers on in front of the group. Heaven forbid we put someone BEHIND THEM!
Anyway, I am saddened by the loss of life for such stupid reasons. It seems that if someone would have said "Hey lets not do this on a paved road where 2 and 3 thousand pound vehicles travel" this could have been avoided. There are millions of acres of unpaved wilderness and roads that could have been used. I was the young mens president for 8 years in two different stakes and I found that if I would stop and think things through and then run the idea by some other people to think about it we could identify potential problems with outings and activities.
This is not an isolated thing. I hear stories of kids having loads of freight fall on them and kill them because they were riding on the forklift. There are those who loose kids out of car doors because they were not buckled in and it goes on and on.
There are a lot of people who I care about a great deal who read this blog and I just want to say lets all learn from this tragedy and be a little more intelligent about what we are doing. If you see something that is stupid be quick to speak up and say something about it. If that 14 year old girl had been one of my friends daughters or my niece I would be heart broken and torn up something fierce about it. Lets just all think about the things we do so nobody has to endure a stupid tragedy.
Thanks for letting me spout off.
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2 comments:
You know my feeling on this.
Your post is labeled with a question "Tragedy or Stupid people?".....
I say yes.
I have always maintained that when it is your time to go, it is your time to go. But seeing a 14 year old dead because of something so seemingly obvious to you and me as dangerous and avoidable is tragic and frustrating.
On a personal note, I think these trek reenactments are stupid in the stongest sense of the word. I think my ancestors would slap me for wasting time, effort and energy on that. They did it so I don't have to. Do I have to be crucified to know what Christ went through....of course not.
Take that same time spent dragging a handcart and do something positive for someone else, attend the temple, work at the DI, do something that benefits someone else.
I may be a jerk for my opinion, but this jerk won't have a kid die on the side of the road pulling a handcart in the 21st Century.
Amen!
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