IN AN INSTANT

This will be more somber than most of my thoughts. This morning I planned to take a “me day” – get a massage, shop a little, maybe get my nails done. On my way down Antelope Road I came upon a traffic back up. All I could see initially were several TV news truck antennas in the air & many police cars with lights flashing.

As I approached the scene, a mutilated pile of metal that used to be a car was in one lane, a police car was off the road in the bushes & a slightly damaged pick-up truck nearby. Then I saw the yellow tarp draped over the remains of the car. I knew it was covering a dead body. Someone was driving down the same road I travel at least 2 or 3 times a week having no idea that their life would end momentarily. It totally unnerved me.

As I made my first stop at the post office a few blocks ahead, I pulled out my phone & checked a local news station’s website for details. What I learned unnerved me even more. A high speed chase between the police & some burglary suspects reaching speeds of 100 mph had continued until the suspects crashed into the car. A man & a girl were killed instantly - a father taking his daughter to school.

It was such a sobering moment that I considered skipping my “me day”. But then I decided to go ahead & take care of myself. There was nothing I could do to help those poor innocent victims driving down the street as they probably did every morning without thinking that their lives could be over in an instant. Every one of us needs to take care of ourselves & those we love EVERY day. No one ever knows for sure that we’ll be alive tomorrow – or even in 10 minutes.

It is hard not to wonder what our world is coming to when innocent people can’t drive safely down a public street. The fact that two teenagers trying to escape the police in a botched burglary can snuff out two lives then flee the scene is abominable. Fortunately, the young men were caught & will be charged with homicide.

There is too much violence & too much apathy in this country. I’m not sure what we can do to stop it but something has to change. This was one incident in our neighborhood, but similar tragedies & others occur daily in many neighborhoods all over the United States. As we turned on the TV this afternoon to find more details about what was surely the lead story on the local news, we were stunned to find out that it wasn’t.

A gunman was again on the loose shooting people at Fort Hood, Texas. Three were dead & many injured as the incident continued to unfold. Countless families were locked in their homes on the base, terrified of being shot & killed. This violence, whether with a car or a gun, is all too commonplace in our world.

The most prosperous & advanced country in the world has to find a way to stop this senseless violence, destruction & death. In the meantime, give those you love an extra hug & tell them again & again how much you love them. It could all be over in an instant.