Old Folks

Over the weekend, the old lady made an observation, with some bitterness, that I think is worth our consideration.

Recently, someone who was far too much in a hurry to get to his destination didn't look where he was steering his truck and smashed into the Old Lady. I understand that the damage to the vehicle was fairly extensive, but that the Old Folks were unscathed. A young man who saw the accident stopped to offer assistance and call the highway patrol. The trucker, as the Old Lady put it, looked like he needed the job he had. But, he took responsibility for his carelessness and apologized.

The observation was: "If we had been killed, all you kids would have said "people in their 80s have no business driving." I think she has something. I like to think that if I'd known that the other guy was at fault, I'd be crazy with anger and grief. But, chances are that if the old folks had been killed, the highway patrol would have assumed the old drivers were somehow at fault. It is a sad state of affairs.

So, do we do anything other than keep this sort of event in our minds and hope that if the horrible happens, we stop and reevaluate our first impulse to blame the old folks?