Cowards, Drunks, and other reprobates

This past weekend, a coworker suffered a loss that is hard to comprehend so close to Christmas.

Her husband, who was walking home, was struck by a hit and run driver of (probably) an SUV, and killed immediately.  I suppose one might say that the fact that he was killed immediately is a kindness, but somehow I don't believe that the family would find this particularly thoughtful of the person who ran.

I wonder what possible excuse there could be for so cowardly an action on the part of a person wielding a large deadly object.  As a gun owner, I have certain responsibilities as regards safety, concern for others, taking care that mu surroundings cannot be a contributor to others' harm - would not one believe that the driver of an automobile would be held to the same standards, particularly in light of the fact that we kill far more people with vehicles than we do with guns in this great nation.

Apparently, though, responsibility is only recognized for the odd among us - those who choose unusual means of transport, those who find firearms interesting (for whatever reason) and those who are over a certain age and grew up knowing that if an act of theirs had consequences, nobody else owned those consequences.

The family involved here is shattered - three children lost a father, a wife is left to pick up the pieces, and to bury her husband, and then rebuild a life at an age when life ought to be pretty sane and settled.  There is at present nothing to point to the driver of the vehicle that did this, so one has only to wonder - was it a drunk, was it an unauthorized driver, someone on dope, someone on a phone, someone having a fight with a wife / girlfriend - what possible excuse can there be for having failed so dramatically to accept responsibility for one's actions?

It is not hard to imagine accident circumstances - accidents do happen - but if it were an accident, why not stay around, explain that it was an accident and move forward?  The cowardly act of leaving does more than allow one to escape answerability - it leaves a goodly number of people with no closure, with nothing to understand, and no hope of justice, at least not in the forseeable future.

I have no answers for those that hit and run - I'd be tempted to shoot them on the spot, but that would be entirely too merciful - and one so devoid of personal responsibility could not be trusted to maintain the remnants of the family, see to their support and income, etc.

It is obvious to the casual observer that the potential penalty for this heinous act of cowardice is not great enough, or horrid enough because it continues to occur, and folks continue to try  to excuse themselves of responsibility for this. It won't wash - the responsibility is squarely on the person doing the fleeing.  A person so bereft of the basic concept of honor cannot be believed or trusted with anything - take the vehicle away and crush it.  Incarceration removes financial recovery for the victims - but there are those who might not understand anything less - although there are also those for  whom it could be considered a vacation, and that's scary.

I have no answers, no cures, no remedies - but I am deeply upset by this, and realize that I could have been the guy laying dead in the street.  Anyone reading could have been the dead person in the street.  I would wish better for my survivors than having to wonder how and why.

Have a great Tuesday, y'all, and think kind thoughts for a coworker whose Christmas has been so thoroughly disrupted and destroyed.