However, this woman came in and shared her powerful and tragic experience with us. It knocked me over like a freight train. Many of the memories of my stay here will fade with time, but this one I will forever cling on to.
I’ll spare
you all the details of the story, but will give you a synopsis. Fourteen years ago she and her 3 yr. old
daughter were standing at a corner when a car came screeching around a corner
and slammed into the little girl sending her down the street to her death. One more inch to the right and she, pregnant
at the time, would have been lost as well.
She goes on to tell about the ordeal of her shock and denial, but where
it gets really dicey is when the criminal proceedings for the driver come. The heartless bastard tries to get off
for what he did.
Meanwhile, she has to
go to court for a year straight reliving the incident over and over about
that horrific day through her own testimony and court proceedings. She is put through
such turmoil and I personally came to hate the justice system of how they
treated her like she wasn’t important when the case revolved around the single
most tragic event in her life. What hit
me harder was that the media put an unusual spin on the story that almost made
it like she was to blame. The driver
responsible for the heinous act was eventually sentenced to prison, but what I
found the most heartless was that he made no attempt to apologize or show
remorse.
After hearing her story I was sitting in my chair seething at everything that happened to her and ready to jump up and go to war for her. Then reality faded back in and I took account of my surroundings. I looked left and saw my pigeon loving roommate half asleep. I looked right and saw Spaz's leg jackhammering while he looked out the window with a blank stare. I then scanned the rest of the room to see if anyone was angry or just as emotional as I was. Nothing. Bunch of remorseless assholes.
Then the guilt started. I was a drunk driver much like that man that took her daughter. Personally I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself as he did, and the burden of taking a life alone would be enough punishment. That could have easily been me that took her daughter away from her. The fact that she could come in there and share her tragedy without passing judgment or scorn on us was truly remarkable.
I could not for the life of me make eye contact with her because I felt so ashamed. No mother deserves the burden of losing a child, and I NEVER want to be the person to inflict that kind of damage in the future. I am not an entirely emotional person, but I had to choke back tears afterwards.
I am not preaching nor do I intend to try to ram this fact down people’s throat, but I implore all who read this please think twice before getting behind the wheel of a car after a “few” drinks.
I promised myself I’d never do it again, and I ask for the same type of clear judgment from the rest of you. I can’t portray how sincerely I feel about this except to say look around to those that care for you or if a child is on the way will care for you. How would it make them feel if you were lost in an accident? This woman will never get to see her daughter get married, go to college, and make her proud. There are a bunch of “what ifs” that she was stripped of and watching her son grow up it gets worse I’m sure. I wonder how else it laid waste to her life; did she and her husband stay together? does she blame herself and ask "should it have been me?", and does she resent her son as weird as that sounds? All of these complicated questions because some nimrod couldn't call a cab.
I’m not like one of those born again Christians at the airport trying to shove their ideals at you, I’m just asking you to consider the consequences of your actions in the future. This is an instance where I wish I was a more powerful writer because there is no way to get this point across to people because they all have the mentality that it won’t happen to them. I had that same mentality and it happened to me...twice. It is very frustrating that things have to be learned the hard way in order for it to make sense to some people.
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