musings . . .

So I’m driving home from the store today and what do I see in front of me? A car with four TV screens playing the same video. Two are in the backseat and two in the front seats, in the visors I presume. We couldn’t believe our eyes. What kind of moron would put people’s lives at risk like that? It’s just a safety issue.

Each time we get on the road, we take a large amount of responsibility into our hands – for the lives of ourselves and the lives of each other person on the road that is driving nearby. We also place a great deal of trust in one another that we all will do our best to avoid getting into car accidents and take the necessary measures to do so, whether it means turning on your headlights in gloomy and dark conditions, using your directionals when changing lanes and turning, or not watching video while driving.

I have enough of a problem with the people who play videos in their minivans and such to keep their kids occupied while driving. See, those screens are visible to the vehicles behind the screens, and distracting to those other drivers. I think it should be required by law that in order to have any screens in your vehicle you need to have limousine tinting so I can’t be distracted by what you are playing. And don’t even get me started on the SUV full of guys I saw one night playing porn on their in-car screens.

But having a screen 5 inches from your face while you’re driving not only distracts me, but it distracts you much more. And with a car full of people, you are only asking for trouble.

Tonight, following this car with its four screens, we passed by three police cars that had pulled over another driver for some offense and the two front screens quickly went dead. I am guessing that the people in the car thought (or knew) it was illegal. I don’t know for sure if it’s illegal, but I damn sure hope so. Soon after passing the police, the screens went back on. It blew my mind that people would do something like that. I’m outraged. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I think that any human life lost is a tragedy. Even those who have done evil. Everyone has friends, family, and loved ones. We have all done evil. However, sometimes a tragedy like a human life being lost is of less concern than the tragedy created by the human life that’s being eliminated. If this is the case, so be it. It’s not my place to judge – I don’t understand how it’s any human’s right to declare another human should not live any longer. Mr. Hussein should receive grave punishment, and he did, but is imposed death ever ethical? I hope we reach a point in our world (during our lifetime) when we can answer that question. I think the answer will be that only the perfect can pass judgement – and no one is perfect on Earth.

The more effective punishment would be to humanely keep Saddam imprisoned until he dies (of natural causes). By killing Saddam, we are no better than the man we are punishing. We are performing the same crime. We could show the world how humane we are, but we can only show our own evil.

Oh, and by the way, think about this:

• The US, with its highly organized legal system and prisons, etc. takes years to execute convicts. Iraq, with its newly established and arguably less organized systems completed Saddam’s execution within weeks(?) of his conviction. Just food for thought.

Why don’t we spend our time, energy, and resources on saving as many lives as we can?

The videos were taken with my camera phone, so they kind of suck, visually, but the sound quality is surprisingly good for such a small device. Not to mention the fact that I was standing right next to the stage. What a great night!

Carnival

Lewis Hollow

Explain

Set it on Fire