Wednesday, February 26, 2014

A Family Tragedy

Leash Alaine
Mr. Michael Freeman
HUM422 D
February 26, 2014
A Family Tragedy

This post has been handed down to the author second-handedly. The information in the post was immediately put in the El Paso newspaper the next day following the event that will be told. There are details in this post that the newspaper article did not address because this event affected the company of the host family that the author currently lives with. 

No photographs or list of names will be present in this post for confidentiality reasons. This is to ensure the privacy of the family that was greatly affected by this event. 

      It was approximately 8:00 pm when a pastor left his young wife and their nine-month-year old son to pickup his twin brother at New Mexico's El Paso airport. There was much to look forward to this week because the next day would mark his wife's birthday and tonight would mark the evening of his twin brother's visit to his family (just in time for his sister-in-law's birthday). This young pastor had a lot going for him as his church congregation was growing and he and his wife had just become parents to a nine-months-year old son.

      This particular evening, on February 24, was no different than any other. The roads and weather were clear. Lots of young couples say a quick "see you later" when parting ways for a small amount of time. No one would have ever imagined that this evening would be the last time that this couple would exchange words. 

In the shoes of the young pastor (8:30-8:45 pm):

      Imagine just cruising on the highway and all of a sudden you see an oncoming BMW vehicle speeding at around a hundred miles an hour on the highway of interstate-ten east (Borunda 2). A hundred miles an hour is extremely fast for an oncoming vehicle headed right in one's direction that it is hard to react quickly. As one may guess, this headlong BMW did not quickly swerve out of the pastor's Toyota Sienna van; the BMW stayed on the same road that the pastor was driving on (4). The facts tell all: a deadly collision between two vehicles resulting in the loss of two lives in just a minute. The only positive thing that can come out of such a terrible accident is that there were no other passengers within the vehicles--only the drivers (5). 

In the shoes of the twin brother (9:30 pm):

      The twin brother of this young pastor was still waiting at the El Paso airport waiting for his brother to pick him up. Being in the brother's shoes may make you feel concerned about where your brother is and why he had not shown up on time to pick you up from the airport. Most likely his brother was very good as being punctual for pick ups and drop offs at the airport. The worse news that you want to hear is that your twin brother was involved in a deadly vehicle accident that he would not have been in if it were not for you needing to be picked up from the airport. This is when the feeling of blame might surface in your mind when really it was not your fault because "accidents" unfortunately happen when you least expect it. 

In the shoes of the young wife (9:15 pm):

      You will not hear the news until around thirty minutes after the accident your husband was involved in. You do not know that there was an accident but you will hear about it a good fifteen minutes before your brother-in-law. Upon receiving the news, you may first have the feeling of despair and question how you can continue to live, now that your spouse has been taken from you from this world. The second thing on your mind is how you will be able to provide for your family and care for your infant son, now that the breadwinner of the family has passed. The minute thing that you agonize over is that your birthday celebration will not happen tomorrow. When your birthday celebration finally happens, the celebration will not be like any previous birthday celebrations. 

Reflection on the Event:

      The reactions that the twin brother and young wife both experience is normal. The main objective is to help the family members to understand that it is not their fault that this terrible accident occurred; the accident could have been prevented but it is unhealthy to live in the "what ifs" of life. Outsiders looking at the family may start blaming the deceased driver of the BMW for driving on the wrong side of the road but blame will not solve pain. 

      Rational thoughts do not occur until a good amount of time has passed. What people often fail to understand is that it is not always best to find a person to blame for deadly accidents. People make mistakes. It is okay for people to question which driver was in the right: was it the BMW driver or the young pastor? This situation would cause most people to quickly state that it was the BMW driver's fault because he was not following the driving laws of the United States (driving on the right side of the road and driving in the respected marked areas of the roads). 

      The ethical principle taken away from this article and my own second-hand account of the accident is this: people should not be so quick to judge the actions of others; instead, people should first find the facts that explain why a person mostly responsible for a cause acted the way they did. Blame and anger will not solve the family members of the pastor's loss. The only way that can help the pain be bearable is to be willing to forgive the deadly mistake that the believed responsible party had made. 

Works Cited:
Borunda, Daniel. "2 Killed in Wrong Way Crash on I-10 in West El Paso County." El 
      Paso Times.com. The El Paso Times, 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
      

1 comment:

  1. Alicia,
    This was chilling. As I read through the post my heart went out to the young widow and her son as I prayed for them. I can't imagine losing someone like that.
    Stories like these definitely makeyou think ofthe brevity of life and the way we treat people. If we lived more in light of eternity we would be less likely to harbor such respectable sins as bitterness and envy, as you mentioned in your last paragraph.

    -Megan

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