Tragic Reminders
Not exactly the best week to be blogging about. Oh, there was nothing wrong with the work week itself, but I was reminded to take time and consider all that is important to me. We should all do this more often than we probably do, but life gets busy sometimes.
On Sunday evening while I was making my way towards the Carolina Coast, I witnessed a tragic accident.
As I was progressing eastbound, nearing an entrance ramp, I merged to the left lane to accommodate for oncoming traffic. It was then, as I looked into my mirror that I noticed a huge cloud of dust and debris. As I continued to stare at it, a car came tumbling out of the haze. It was literally doing a barrel roll about 10 foot off of the ground. I watched as it slammed onto the pavement and began to roll again. It finally came to rest in a runoff ditch full of water, sending a spray of liquid nearly 20 feet in the air. This all took place just a few hundred yards behind me in a matter of seconds, but I was still able to see "objects" ejected from the vehicle. I hope and pray those objects were not the occupants of the vehicle. I was shocked into a silence... Immediately I dialed 911 to report the scene and after speaking with the emergency operator, I continued my evening in a quiet contemplative mood.
This for me, is the hardest part about being a truck driver. Facing mortality. I did not know these people, but with the assumption that a life has literally just ended before my eyes, my heart is ripped apart. I grieve for the victims, I grieve for the families, I even grieve for any witnesses who are left with mental scars of what they have just witnessed...
Gratefully, I have not witnessed an excess of fatalities, but then again, isn't even one an excess!
5 comments:
Sobering thoughts.
My heart goes out to them, to you as well, for watching it in your mirror.
Last week, while cruising down the road, a friend of mine experienced swelling & pain in his lower leg so checked himself into hospital. A blood clot and then the discovery of a rare type of cancer. He's now in ICU with his family by his side, condition upgraded to a 50/50 shot.
Another example of how important it is for us to live life to the fullest in the present moment. Accident or illness or old age, you just never know do you?
Always enjoy your posts. Thanks.
I was a military police investigator for about eight years, so I have seen allot of stuff, including many military aircraft crashes, and I got used to it. As time goes on it slowly has started to bother me again, and now I am back as normal people, and how it affects them. I have not seen a real bad one for awhile, and I hope it stays that way. I did see a horrible one on the run to Washington, NC once right in front of me, that was very similar to what you saw. People drive so crazy nowadays.
I'm sorry you had to view the horrible scene in your mirror.
My thoughts and prayers goes out to those in the accident, and those who saw it. Stay safe out there.
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