First and foremost, I am finally going to comment on the Mealer situation. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get through even reading an article about that incident without feeling enraged, sad, pissed off, and emotional all at the same time: For those that don't know the details, a 90 year old man ran a stop sign on Christmas Eve and killed Elliot Mealer's father and his girlfriend and left Brock paralyzed with a doctor's diagnosis of "No HOPE of ever walking again....."
In no particular order (well, yes, there is a particular order)
1. Enraged - Why does this country continue to allow people over the age of 85 the opportunity to get and renew a driver's license - WITHOUT TAKING A WRITTEN, ORAL, and DRIVING TEST? No offense to any of the elderly out there. But, if you know anyone one that has been lucky enough to live into their 80's you know that if you have ever been behind the wheel with them it can be a scary, harrowing experience. My grandmother, when she was still wheeling it, was a hazard to herself and anyone else on the road. I believe it's everyone's responsibility to take some sort of action and curb this situation if you have an elderly or impaired person that is in your family and they are still operating a vehicle. Ride with them. Evaluate their skills and cognitive ability for yourself on an annual basis. If you don't think they can manage it, let them know. I don't know if this guy (the 90 year old) had anyone or if he had been told to stop driving, but my guess is this wasn't the first incident.
Elderly Freedoms, you say? Look - it's simple. Driving isn't a GOD D@#$% Right! It's a privilege! One that should be taken away to keep other people on the road safe. And if you're too old to drive, move somewhere that you can walk for your daily needs or ride the bus. Sorry, just how I feel...And I'm sure that might change as I get older, but I will happily take the tests if it comes to that.
2. Sad and Pissed off: That a doctor would tell a kid that there's "no hope" of ever walking again is pretty short sighted on the doctor's part. Yes, I know, he probably watered it down and didn't say no hope, but my guess is he didn't give much either. Spirit, attitude and a willingness to push yourself beyond what's normal is different for everyone.
3. Emotional: Brock decides, "Screw it, I'm walking." To do this, and with the goal in mind of walking out of that tunnel with 110,000 people watching and, without a doubt, everyone standing and cheering you one will be a very, incredibly emotional moment. I get chills just thinking about it as I type these words....This kid is something special. I hope everyone sees that and his future is full of even more potential than what he had before everything was taken away....
Jeez...I get sad when I think that the only way we get these stories is by letting something happen that as a society we probably could have prevented....
So, on to the 2nd part of today's post, the 2011 and 2012 seasons have posted. And get this: Michigan doesn't play Penn State, Wisconsin or Indiana! Click on the above news feed for the details....
How do I feel about that? Well, I really want to beat PSU, the Cheeseheads and Indiana this year so they can sit with that loss for the next two seasons hanging over their heads and not the other way around....I just figured that somehow we were going to get stuck playing PSU (no matter what), Wisconsin (No matter what) and we would lose out on playing Indiana, Northwestern, and Illinois....Looks like we got lucky getting Northwestern in the division and the kept Minnesota and Michigan together for the Brown Jug....Which is nice!
However, I will really like going to the 9 game Big 10 schedule in 2015 where there's only two misses....if they can figure out a way to keep 7 home games for everyone...(NOT gonna happen)...So what happens then? Up the ticket prices to make up for the lost game revenue? Higher PSL's????
Time will tell....
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