For those of you that don't know, I'm a resident of south Florida, Miami to be exact. I've lived here now for 3 years. It hasn't been all candy and flowers, but it hasn't been that bad. If, by some chance, you don't read these sorts of trivial things, Miami was voted country's rudest/worst drivers. You can laugh about it and point fingers and joke, but it's sadly true. I've lived in many places both in and out of this country, and Miami is the worst. (And no, I'm not going to just sit and complain, we're moving next year.)
I didn't start this post, however, simply to say the driving is bad here. This is a wake-up call, a warning, a shout-out, whatever you want to call it, that we, as responsible driving adults, need to SLOW DOWN on the roads. Saturday morning I was reading the Miami Herald and under the breaking news was a story about a pedestrian being struck and killed by a car while trying to cross US1. This highway is dangerous. People are dying trying to cross it and nothing is being done. The most tragic part is that this pedestrian was only 14 years old. A young life lost before even having a chance to reach its potential. Parents have been devastated. A whole school is this morning trying to cope with the loss of their friend and classmate Vincent Delmore. I know this is true because my daughter was friends with this young man. She created a
It's hard enough to explain death to the young, but at least it is typically an older relative. How do you help a child cope with the senseless death of a friend?
I beg you, I implore you, I ask you kindly from the depths of my heart, le pregunto, please slow down on our roadways. There is really very little that can be that important for you to endanger the lives of those in our community and the lives of our children. Please, leave 5 minutes earlier or just be 5 minutes late (nothing starts on time anyways) and slow down and pay attention to the road.
My heart goes out to every child at Ponce this morning and especially to the parents of this young man. I'm so sorry for your loss.