YOUR CHOICE

[Neville Briggs]

I've read your piece a few times Maureen, I'm not sure how to explain what comes to me from it. The repeat phrases and the style seem to convey a sort of unsettling accusing voice. Makes one uncomfortable to listen to the message. I think that is entirely appropriate to the theme, if you intended that to happen, then it works.

The worst job I ever did was to have to go and tell a woman that her 13 year old son had been killed by a careless driver. I can remember every detail of that event though it happened 25 years ago.

Another time I had to attend a crash where a young woman's body was sitting in the driver's seat of a smashed up car, I was horrified to pick up her purse and find that it contained a photo of a couple of young school aged children. One of the ambulancemen who attended had to go and lay down for a minute in his own ambulance, he was so upset.
You might understand my feelings if any driver who got a traffic ticket off me ( a rare event ) wanted to trot out the old " why don't you find the real criminals "

[Maureen K Clifford]

I think the point I was trying to make was my sense of anger and outrage at the manner in which so many of these young ones drive and act with complete lack of consideration for others including not only the possible victims of their stupidity but their own families, and those who have had to go in and cut them out or try to save their lives. I fully appreciate youth comes with the stupid idea that nothing will ever happen to you - and some would consider it a rite of passage....but enough is enough and I have had enough.

I hate to confess this but I always try to be honest...I have reached the stage now where my attitude is that they are wasted spaces..I refer to the ones that are repeat offenders, getting booked time and time again, those who are full of bad manners, bad attitudes and total disrepect for everything and everyone. I confess that were I to come across one of them in dire circumstances due to their own stupidity and reckless flaunting of every rule put in place for their own protection - that I would not waste my time rendering assistance to them.

The people who I feel for are the devastated parents, or relatives of the other victims, people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those innocent bystanders who are hurting through no fault of their own, those who left their homes that morning believing they would see loved ones again that night. Police and ambos. firies and others who frequently put there lives on the line to try to save these idiots.

Sorry - in my book enough is enough. They need to grasp that in this life you take responsibility for your own actions, don't expect others to rescue you, spend their life's savings and the rest of their life looking after you, pay a pension etc to keep you and pay huge medical bills to mend you...when what you are bearing is as a consequence of your own action. No no no ... there are others more deserving .

A young lass here a regular on the trains and always chroming. A bloke around the corner in a high powered car that he drives down the street doing at least 80klm in a 50kl zone who nearly killed my neighbour when he lost control coming around the corner in the wet. I hope he runs into the river - I will go and wave goodbye. The kid down the street who is 15 and doing drugs and alcohol and causing his parents no amount of grief. and they are good parents who just don't know where to turn...and the list goes on...as Neville would know.

Sorry to say that I am totally over it. They make the choices - let them pay the full consequences.

But as we all know sadly it doesn't work that way - but they will not get help from me. If that seems harsh - such is life. My old Dad always used to say there is no help for stupid. If that makes me a bad person them I am bad. If I appear unchristian or lacking compassion then so be it. I'm not but as I said I have had enough

[Leonie]

Oh dear, while I totally agree that stupid decisions that are made while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs are definitely the choice of the person making them, and I fully understand the frustration of people having to clean up the mess afterwards, I am so glad that there are still some people out there who would still render assistance to those people, no matter how much it might be their own fault that they find themselves in whatever predicament they happen to find themselves.

If not for those people I would never have had the chance to see my feckless teenager turn into a responsible, sober, almost 40 year old useful member of society. Not to mention that my beautiful granddaughter would never have been born. And trust me it was close, closer than I would ever wish on anyone. Funny how we as a society can find all kinds of reasons (for that read excuses) for the bad behaviour of some people but not for others. Human nature I suppose, and I confess to being as guilty of that as the next person.

It's definitely a powerful poem and probably hit just a wee bit too close to home.

[Maureen K Clifford]

I think that was the problem Leonie it hit too close to home - I thought my neighbour was going to be killed by this bloke around the corner who we have tried to get to slow down on numerous occasions. I could see the car sliding towards him in slow motion only it wasn't slow and got such a fright and then got bloody furious with him.

And he is a total wasted space this one..a complete moron, an utter drop kick....if he has any redeeming features we didn't see them.

[Nerelie Teese]

And a drag racing related death a couple of suburbs over from my city dwelling last night. The victim? Some poor innocent driver making a right hand turn when out of the blue - Bang!!!

Of course the drivers were probably having their own private little Grand Prix, so it was very inconsiderate of anyone else to even be on the road at that time.

Whose choice? Whose choice?

Maureen, I hope your poem finds its way into the local drongo's letterbox, but he probably can't read.

Nerelie

[Heather]

I like what you have done with this poem Maureen and the way you have used "choice".

How often do you see the offending driver survive horrific crashes and the unsuspecting innocents in the other car or the passengers die? It's a scary world out there, especially if you are a mother of teenagers or children in their twenties.

Unfortunately, it often takes the death of one of their friends in an horrific accident for them to realise that it "can happen" to them too.

Heather

[Heather]

Marty there will always be those that don't give a s... and are repeat offenders - possibly drug or alcohol involved or just idiots. You're right, they may never learn or care and in the meantime we are all in danger with them on the roads.

Sometimes, however, teenagers do stupid things - they think they are invincible. Boys skylark, girls tend to text or use the phone when driving (they still do it even though it is illegal here in Vic) and they can pay a high price for their stupid irresponsible behaviour.

The average teenager learns the hard way when one of their friends or peers dies in a car accident. Recently an 18 year old local girl died on her way back from a B & S ball somewhere in NSW. She swerved to avoid a kangaroo, rolled and was killed. She'd had her license 3 days. Front passenger in a coma for a time; back seat passenger not a scratch. Deaths like this one reverberate throughout a small community.

Heather

[Leonie]

I love Billy Joel, and his song 'Shades of Grey' has always touched a chord with me.
Everything was black and white when I was younger (and knew everything ) but now ..

I particularly like these lines...
"And the only people I fear
are those who never have doubts"

and the chorus isn't too shabby either ...
Shades of grey wherever I go
The more I find out the less that I know
Black and white is how it should be
But shades of grey are the colors I see

Could be my mantra, I try not to be too judgemental. I don't always succeed. I tend to be rather judgemental of people who are too judgemental.

[Zondrae]

G'day Leonie,

Someone said.. (I have no idea who) that it was amazing how much their parents had learned and he/she had forgotten between when he/she was 16 and 30.

[Dave Smith]

Granddaughter Mine.

Nineteen years and just in her prime,
Tragically taken, before her time.
Her time with us was way to short,
Her not to be here was never a thought.

A Nanna’s grief deep and two fold,
The daughter she’s to comfort and hold.
The gorgeous girl she help’t to train,
The granddaughter; she’ll not see again.

In our grief the memory stirs,
For the future that will not be hers,
To look up and find she’s not there,
We miss the children she will not bear.

Pops are meant to be tough and bold,
Watch and protect all those in his fold.
Gone with no chance to say good-bye,
I see her still through tears in my eye.




Dave Smith ©
July 2010