I push all the buttons around here.

I try to keep things techie around here. However, recent events have caused me to want to clear my head about something. I’m almost afraid to even put in my two cents on the topic (and that is rare for me).

For those of you who haven’t made the connection yet, my hometown of Madison is somewhat famous. Did any of you see Jim Caviezel and Jake Lloyd in the movie Madison? Yep, same town. And a very neat town it is.

The movie focused on Hydroplane racing, a sport that has been a staple of this community for many years. Every forth of July weekend, thousands flock to the Indiana and Kentucky banks of the Ohio river to watch the amazing boats glide across the water.

If you’ve been watching the news, this years Regatta captured national attention when a car went crashing through the main gate, speeding through a large crowd of people, crumpling a golf cart, and ultimately stopped after barreling into the water.

This story haunts me, but not for obvious reasons. Most instantly think of those who weren’t able to get out of the way in time. My heart and prayers do go out to them as well as to their respective families. They were planning on attending a party not a hospital. This is genuinely tragic for us as a community and catastrophic for those who were injured.

For some reason, I think of the driver of the car the most. I don’t know the kid. I’m not aware of his past. I have no idea if he’s a model citizen or a shady character. At this time, it’s still unclear what other factors may have contributed to the accident. With so much uncertainty, it’s hard to speculate what might happen to him. If he is charged with a crime, what are the odds he won’t spend a significant amount of time in jail?

Now, a part of me wants to say there is a consequence to his actions and he deserves what happens to him. Then again, I don’t know his past. What if he is a model student who just happened to really screw up this one time? What if he’s not? I have a sincere sympathy towards him. What impact will this have on his life? It’s true the crises’ in our lives are our defining moments; hopefully where we learn the most. I wonder where his opportunity for redemption will be. I wonder how this will define or shape his life.

Even in the mundane of my life, I think about everything that happens to me this way; how will this define me?

It would be so easy to let anger take over.  Justice seems certain. Perhaps he doesn’t deserve my pity; perhaps he does. I guess time will tell.

And all of this assumes it was anything other than a genuine accident and no other factors were involved.

If any of you are interested, I’ll try and keep you up to date on the story. I’m sure it won’t make national news for long and we will go back to being a small, quiet river town soon enough.