trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

[fishlady]

well everyone....how did you spend your saturday night?...at home in the comforts of your abode?...out to a dinner and movies?...or just curled up with a good book?
Well, let me tell you how I spent my saturday night.
After having watched a movie, I took a bath and sat down to look at the news so I could see what the weather would be like tomorrow.
I decided that I would just turn in for lack of anything to watch on TV. I woke up about 3am noticing that my electricity was off. I got up and walked around and nothing. I stepped out on the patio still saw nothing. So I got some clothes on and walked out of the building. I heard a voice so I walked toward it. I asked if he knew what was going on? He said yeah and pointed for me to look out toward hempstead hwy. There i saw an extremely large ball of fire and started hearing all the sirens going off. Of course being a nurse I couldn't just stand there and not see if I could help so off I go. I walked up to the front of my apartments and looked down to the little gas station/store on the corner. It was absolutely horrific. There it was a Chevrolet truck stuck between 2 light poles and burning out of control. As I made my way down to where a crowd of my fellow apartment people were standing it was apparent that there was no way that anyone could have survived that crash. I struck up a conversation with a channel 13 news guy who had been there since it happened and was videoing the whole thing for the news. I asked if he knew what had happened and he began to explain that this guy was driving erraticly and that he heard on the police scanner that they were about to pull him over. But all of a sudden he sped up and crossed the railroad tracks there and went airborn landing on the opposite side of the highway in between the 2 poles and burst into flames. I apprehensively asked if they had gotten anyone out?.. He looked at me and shook his head no. I said a prayer for not only the occupant of the vehichle but for the family that would be getting the call to break the news about the crash.
I stood there looking around and watching the firemen try to keep the flames out so they could get close to the truck. I realized that something was laying in the road next to me. I looked down to find the battery of the truck had flown out and landed approx. 100 feet down the road. My heart was so filled full of sorrow and somewhat madness that people continue to put themselves behind the wheels of these machines when they are drinking. It never ceases to amaze me that by now you would think with all the documented wrecks caused by drinking and driving that people would learn. I guess not.......

sorry just had to share this story with someone and my cat just wasn't listening this morning. Oh by the way. I had no electricity until 10 minutes ago. I stayed up all night worried about my fishies. I thought not only did this person, someone's son, father, brother, uncle, deny them his life with them. He was putting my fishies in danger as well. How selfish of him/her I thought.

thanks for letting me say what i needed to  say....

Fishlady......

[eklikewhoa]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

That's sad.....some people don't think about others when they do things like drink and drive or try to operate any kind of machinery under the influence.

Hope all is well for your fishies.

[fishlady]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

so far so good.....i had my baby chimbas covered with a blanket so they wouldn't move around so much using their o2 up....i did loose a gold ram though.....she was so tiny she couldn't handle the stress i guess.....but everyone else is okay.....all have been fed and are happy now.....
thanks.....

[fishlady]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

if you look on channel 13 news page you can read the article on the crash....i guess they didn't use that newsman's video of it that he took.....

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=5993531

[High-PH]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

It's a sorry thing to think that this kind of crash is so common it's barely newsworthy, isn't it?

Polly

[fishlady]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

your right on that one polly.....it's very sad.....

[CichlidFan]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

So Sad.

Glad to hear most of your fishies made it thru the ordeal.

CF

[Delock]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

Wow...

I thought I had an eventful night learning about aquascaping from one of the best!

[Spot86t]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

Well, it may seem cold and uncaring, but if that was indeed a drunk/drugged driver, then it just serves to let me know that maybe there's a little chlorine in the gene pool after all.  I have very little, if any, sympathy for drunks, even though for most of my life my dad was a full fledged alcoholic.  I never held any sympathy for him either.

My Grandpa was snatched from my family by a 2nd grade teacher who left class to go straight to "Happy Hour".  He worked in NYC and had called my Grandma to come into the city to look at a new furniture display at Bloomingdales, and then go out to dinner.  On their way home that teacher crossed several lanes, struck him, spun, then struck my grandmother who was behind him.  He was killed instantly (so they say) and Grandma had to climb out the passenger window of her car.  She has never been the same since that.  It affected us all deeply - he was a truly exceptional person.  Both their vehicles were totalled even though my Grandma was driving a good-sized (fairly new at the time) Pontiac station wagon.  The saddest part to me is the fact that my 2 youngest sisters and many of my cousins never had the chance to know him.  I'm the oldest grandchild so I'm fortunate to have had the time to spend that I did with him.  

Nothing will ever erase that night back in 1982 when my mothers hysterical screaming woke me and I went to their room to see Dad sitting frozen-like by the side their bed, and Mom thrashing around screaming "My Daddy's dead!, My Daddy's dead!".   As I walk to the bed, I yell at Dad, saying "WHY DON'T YOU WAKE HER UP, SHE'S HAVING A BAD DREAM!".  He just shook his head at me as I went to wake her.  "Mommy, wake up!  Wake up Mommy, you're having a bad dream!"  That's when she stopped long enough to blurt at me through red, teary eyes, "NO, It's not a dream, my Daddy is dead!"  I slowly step back, looking at dad, who nods at me saying "Annamary called, your Grandpa was killed in a car accident."  Then I see my sister, who has been standing in the doorway, with a look of disbelief on her face.  I don't remember much of the week or 2 after that night.  Just the funeral, the gunshots, men in military uniforms and the trumpets.  I just see snapshot flashes, no real recollection of events.  

It was no accident that killed him.  It's a lack of chlorine in the gene pool that killed him.  

In nature, it's called "Survival of the fittest" when the weak die or get killed off.  With humans, it's often more on an intellectual scheme.  I can only wish the idiots and morons would kill themselves without taking innocent bystanders with them.  

I hope this guy only took himself, and not someone else's loved one along with him.  I feel bad for his family, but if they knew him well enough, then they knew it was only a matter of time before they got a midnight call or visit to tell them the inevitable had occurred.

[Delock]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

I agree with Spot 100%

I have no sympathy for someone who been drinking to take the wheel and drive.

[fishlady]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

from what i understand he was alone in the vehichle.....and yes i have no sympathy for anyone and i mean anyone that gets behind the wheel of a car under the influence. My mother and father were hit head on on I-10 by a drunk driver that crossed the whole median of that frwy to hit them...they lived but suffered for that for many years.....it's not sympathy i feel for that man and his stupidity....it's the grief he caused with it. No lights for almost 6 hours for me and the other apartment occupants....the road closed all day today to fix the light pole he took with him....and yes....i do feel bad for the family for the simple reason they probably knew it would come....but noone is ever ready for that phone call don't ya think?......i just needed to share my horrific night with my friends that's all spot....no sympathy here i assure you....

[Zulaab]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

Spot -- I am sorry -- your story struck a cord in me.
I know what you mean -- yes I was stupid once when I was 19.. I drove home one night almost having a car accident because I was drunk.  It was the first and last time I ever drove drunk.  From that day, 20 yrs ago I decided there was nothing in this world that would ever make me get behind the wheel of a car drunk.  I dont like to drink when I am out, I will NEVER again be stupid.

I might be stupid on other things in life, but I am not willing to ever let that happen again.  Putting someone else life in jeopardy is not worth it.

[Spot86t]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

....and yes....i do feel bad for the family for the simple reason they probably knew it would come....but noone is ever ready for that phone call don't ya think?......i just needed to share my horrific night with my friends that's all spot....no sympathy here i assure you....

No one is ever ready for that moment, be it an accident waiting to happen, a terminal illness, or lifestyle that ends in death.  I feel bad that they had to have this in their lives, and for that I can sympathize - quite likely they've tried to help him (or her) but some people just won't take the help.

The inconvenience he caused, and I use the term broadly, causing the lack of power and diversion that he did is unfortunate and only alleviated to me by the fact that it was a single car/person accident.  Some of those affected may have suffered more than inconvenience - anyone that might rely on medical equipment would have suffered more than an inconvenience.  

I didn't mean to imply that you were expressing sympathy - and if you did, well hey, it's a free country - you can have whatever feelings you want!  I was merely expressing mine.  I'd still like ya alright, I'd just hafta smack some sense into you.  

After all, everyone's varying opinions are makes us all special (where's my short bus??!).

Spot -- I am sorry -- your story struck a cord in me.

It still strikes a cord in me every time I think about it - it has for over 20 years, and probably always will.  It's like an unhealed wound easily reopened.  I can't say I've never driven drunk, but the 1 or 2 times I did (as a stupid teenager of course), I was so afraid that one time I got halfway home, called a friend from a 7-11, and told her I had car problems and could she come pick me up.  I was too embarassed to tell her the truth.

It's never worth the risk of putting someone else in danger.  I sure wouldn't want to live knowing I took someone off the face of the earth, causing great pain to all who cared for them.  Some people can probably do that, I'm sure not one of them.

[fishlady]

Re: trajedy or stupidity?...you make the call

the short bus will be by to pick you up after it get's done picking me up spot.......my stop is first .....