Sad...and a little Angry

As I was driving to work today, I listened to the radio. They were doing their usual schtick and then did the traffic report and all that.

The traffic report did mention an accident between Chapel Hill and Durham, but that's kind of a daily occurrence, so I didn't pay attention.

Until traffic stopped.

And I saw flares.

And about 8 police cars with lights flashing.

As I sat waiting to go, because really they were running thing pretty efficiently and traffic wasn't too bad, I looked around...and I saw what was holding up traffic.

A body was lying in the road.


I have mentioned my tendency to be slightly, overly sensitive before, but this really shook me up.

When I got to work, I did a little more research and then I got a bit...angry.

This is why:
1. The accident happened at 5:40am (according to every news report I read), why was there a body still in the road?

2. Why wasn't the body covered? A small white sheet barely covered the torso of this person and it was very bloody. They couldn't find a second item to cover the person with? Respect, people.

3. Many reports and comments speculate that it was "only a homeless person" or "just a homeless person". I'm sorry. We are still talking about a living, breathing person who was killed, right? Why does the social status of the person affect their dignity? We don't know who this person is, please stop making assumptions.

4. Unsafe drivers. As soon as we passed the accident people sped away, rushing to get to work in time. Did you see that? I'm sorry, my priorities right now are to drive myself safely so that I and anyone else on the road whom my driving may affect can arrive safely. Must you zip in and out of traffic to pass ONE CAR? Are you really ahead in that situation? Will those 30 seconds make a difference in your day? In your week? Month? Year? Life? Obviously 30 seconds would have made a difference to that person back a ways.

So, I feel sad. I pray for the family of the victim. I pray for the person who was driving and hit this person. I pray for everyone who had to see this. I hope that we can learn something.