Memorials

I caught some of the news tonight before going out to work on the pool (switch for the pump went bad).  And something came up that is a reoccurring thing now days.  And it is getting to the point that it is really annoying to see all over the place!



There was a tragic accident in the city of Oswego, NY.  A bunch of friends that left a bar to go home and crashed into a utility pole.  They hit this pole so hard that it almost split it.  The pole was actually bent where the vehicle hit it!  This was within the city limits in 30 MPH speed zone and the police said that speed may have been a factor.  Wow, who would have thought that?  Anyway, I digress.


So the issue that I have isn't with the police report.  The issue was what was going on behind the news reporter.  There were several people putting flowers and signs near the crash site.  The reason I have a problem with it is that just about everywhere you look now there is some kind of memorial like that being set up.  It has gotten so bad that earlier this year someone actually had an order put out to prevent people from doing this in his front yard where someone was shot and killed.  Because the lot across the street was vacant they set up their memorial there instead.  This kind of thing has gotten out of control!  Thousands of years ago humans created ways in which to mourn the passing of a loved one, we now call it a funeral.  That is where things like this belong, not along the highways where eventually government crews will have to clean it and dispose of it because everyone has forgotten about it.  These are really just a way in which people are attempting to get their 15 minutes of fame.  They are hoping that a television crew is going to show up and ask them for a statement.  It doesn't have as much to do with mourning the loss as it does with getting some attention.


But this also brings up another thing that bothers me about incidents like this.  Have you ever noticed in situations like this that the person or people that died are always good?  In this case 3 of the 5 men in the car were killed, all had been drinking according to the report from the police.  When they were talking to people at the scene they spoke with one of the women whose significant other (she didn't say husband, just father of her children) is one of the survivors.  Her statement was that all five of the men were really good people and great fathers.  My problem there is that if they were great fathers, why were they driving after drinking and speeding the way they were?  Without exaggeration, the marks that were on the road and the damage to the pole tells me they were doing at least 60 MPH.  What kind of a good father would take chances like that?  But go beyond this incident.  Think of any story like this that has happened in your area.  How often in those stories does everyone praise the one who passed?  I'm going to guess you will find it in most of the stories out there.  I'm sorry but I find it really hard to believe that everyone is a good person.