Drive Safe

Don't people say that all the time? Drive safe, and then your automatic response is "Okay, you too," and that is the last you talk about each other's driving experiences for that trip. I have never given much thought to how important that is; how that is actually real good advice.

I know why we never pay much attention to it: because we trust our own driving so much that we assure ourselves right after we hear "drive safe" that we won't get in an accident. The only way we would have any follow-up to it is if one of the parties actually got in an accident. Think about it: Do you ever hear anyone the next time you see them say to you "So, did you drive safe that one time?" Of course not; we just go on about our own lives. We take for granted that we won't get in an accident and let me tell you, if I did get in an accident, the last thing I would want to hear when being treated at the hospital is, "I told you to drive safe" or some nonsense.

I put so much preface on this because I almost did get in an accident this evening. I almost ran a guy over, and I was going fast enough to kill him. My fault, and I said to myself, "Negligent homicide" so that it would sink in that, had I killed him, that would have been the most likely charge.

I was thinking about food, okay? Food. There's a Burgerville on the way home, and so I was thinking about their yummy milkshakes. There's a DQ but I noticed all their lights were out otherwise I probably would have gotten a blizzard. I was still thinking about DQ when I remembered there is a 7-11 on the way home as well. I started thinking what kind of desserty thing they have, and I was focusing on the lights that the business has, and noticed a bank ATM's lights were on. I was like, "Ooooh, lights, pretty," and by the grace of God my brain told me to look back at the road, where a man was jaywalking where there was no crosswalk (bugs me when people do that when there are crosswalks two feet away), and was looking at the ground while taking a drink of whatever he bought at 7-11. Didn't even look up, change his expression to acknowledge I was there, nothing. I braked when I saw him, and waited till he was safely out of my lane...

I don't think it's too strong a phrase to say "by the grace of God" either. I was seriously inches away from this guy and no one made a sound. There were some people on the curb talking and things, they didn't say anything like "Look out" or anything. Just wow.