Impatience Will Kill Us All
The pictures are up on Facebook of a young couple enjoying a vacation together. They were having a blast, headed up to bush country to drive through the trees and see the beaches, and otherwise have a great time. There were pictures of them on a ferry, on the rocks at the waterside, smiling and laughing and just enjoying life.
Now, at some point while they were headed home, I'm guessing something had been forgotten, because at 8:00 Sunday evening, they were headed back north instead of in the direction of home.
And somebody from the Toronto area with an overloaded sports car pulled out to pass traffic that was going too slow for his taste and wiped them out.
Now, I didn't know this couple; I knew people who knew *them*, but not them themselves. Still, at 23 and 21, life has really barely begun. And was ended by impatience.
The driver of the car is also dead, but his four passengers are still in hospital, at least one of them critical. Seven lives forever altered, three of them ended outright, because traffic was a little slow and he thought he could scoot past three cars to get ahead of them.
We all need to slow down. I see notes all the time that say things like "Being behind a grain wagon extends your trip by the same amount of time you'd be spending at two stoplights in the city - enjoy the view!" And people read them and say, "yeah, I should," while others chuckle and move on because *they* do their best not to get stopped by the stoplights! They also have seven speeding tickets, four moving violations and spend $400/month on insurance, but still think they've got this thing by the tail and will be seen as the better person in the end!
No, no you will not. I will call you rude names in my vehicle as you cut in front of me at the last second from the onramp lane. I will scorn you when you dart between lanes because one seems to be going a little quicker in congested traffic, and I will laugh at you when my lane keeps moving and you are stuck while I go past you. If I could talk to you, I'd tell you to be more patient, that you'll get there eventually, that you don't need to drive like a bat out of hell, lest you and someone else get there yourselves first!
I was already thinking these things when I left my son's place on Sunday evening, because at around the same time that this couple was losing their lives up north, somebody tried to beat a light in Mississauga while someone else saw it go green as they approached the intersection. It's never good when you can only see the top three inches of the windshield due to the mangling of the engine compartment and the lifting of the hood.
Because the saddest part of all is, you could be doing everything right, obeying all the laws, driving excellently, and have one of these idiots take you out.
For pity's sake folks, let's all be a little more patient out there!
Now, at some point while they were headed home, I'm guessing something had been forgotten, because at 8:00 Sunday evening, they were headed back north instead of in the direction of home.
And somebody from the Toronto area with an overloaded sports car pulled out to pass traffic that was going too slow for his taste and wiped them out.
Now, I didn't know this couple; I knew people who knew *them*, but not them themselves. Still, at 23 and 21, life has really barely begun. And was ended by impatience.
The driver of the car is also dead, but his four passengers are still in hospital, at least one of them critical. Seven lives forever altered, three of them ended outright, because traffic was a little slow and he thought he could scoot past three cars to get ahead of them.
We all need to slow down. I see notes all the time that say things like "Being behind a grain wagon extends your trip by the same amount of time you'd be spending at two stoplights in the city - enjoy the view!" And people read them and say, "yeah, I should," while others chuckle and move on because *they* do their best not to get stopped by the stoplights! They also have seven speeding tickets, four moving violations and spend $400/month on insurance, but still think they've got this thing by the tail and will be seen as the better person in the end!
No, no you will not. I will call you rude names in my vehicle as you cut in front of me at the last second from the onramp lane. I will scorn you when you dart between lanes because one seems to be going a little quicker in congested traffic, and I will laugh at you when my lane keeps moving and you are stuck while I go past you. If I could talk to you, I'd tell you to be more patient, that you'll get there eventually, that you don't need to drive like a bat out of hell, lest you and someone else get there yourselves first!
I was already thinking these things when I left my son's place on Sunday evening, because at around the same time that this couple was losing their lives up north, somebody tried to beat a light in Mississauga while someone else saw it go green as they approached the intersection. It's never good when you can only see the top three inches of the windshield due to the mangling of the engine compartment and the lifting of the hood.
Because the saddest part of all is, you could be doing everything right, obeying all the laws, driving excellently, and have one of these idiots take you out.
For pity's sake folks, let's all be a little more patient out there!