We Debate Everything But Death

Frantic people, an upended car and a police officer administering CPR. This is that scene that pulled up to only a few minutes after a deadly accident recently.

If you are like me while you are driving, you might be listening to music or talking on the car speaker to someone. Maybe you are daydreaming or thinking about the tasks you need to complete when you reach your destination. This day was different. The music was off, the windows were down and I had just left the tire shop from getting my new tires installed on my BMW. I was enjoying the car not shaking because of a slight mis alignment that had now been adjusted and how smooth my ride now felt.

As I drove around the corner, getting ready to pull into my neighborhood, I noticed a couple of people standing on the side of the road and a couple of cars pulled over. Other cars were starting to slow down and pull over; and that’s when I saw the car to my left crushed like a tin can, up against a light pole. People gathered around the car trying get someone out of the front seat and a few more people gathered around a motionless body on the ground.

I decided to pull over and investigate.

Having not actually observed the accident take place, I did not want to get in the way of the many individuals already helping. So I stood at a distance while I watched the paramedics pull up and run to the smoking vehicle. Over the next few minutes, a half a dozen ambulances arrived on the scene along with 3 different fire trucks and dozens of police cruisers and undercover vehicles. It wasn’t hard to know that this was not an ordinary crash scene.

After standing there for around ten minutes, news cameras began to arrive and police officers began directing traffic away from the scene. Another vehicle pulled up very quickly and a woman jumped out and began to run toward the vehicle. Hysteria took over the closer she was to the mangled metal. I could see and hear the woman beginning to lose control of her emotion while the police officer who was first on the scene had to keep her from getting near the wreckage. A few seconds later, I could her what sounded like a young man losing all control and yelling “NO, NO, NO!”

I later found out that there were three teenagers in the car. The driver was in pretty bad condition, the passenger had been thrown from the vehicle, and the passengers twin was in the back seat with a severely broken leg. From early news reports, they had run a red light at a high speed, hitting another car that was turning. Other news reports stated that the teenager had later died at the hospital from his injuries.

Of course this story is an eye witness account from myself and few other people who were at the scene and there may be a few official pieces of information about the events that took place that might not be 100% accurate, however, this story is not intended to be a news report as much as it is to get your attention.

We live in a social and political climate where everyone is fighting. Where mudslinging and accusations are often more common than a compliment or a smile. All you have to do is go to the comments section of any post or any article and you will see more negative noise, then truth in a room full of people reacting instead of reading.

We have forgotten that life is fragile and at any moment, death could be upon us.

As I observed the frantic people and the public servants doing their best to organize the chaos, treat the wounded, and make every effort to save the lives of those involved, all I could think of was what is important in this life. I flashed back to when my 17 year old son was in a rollover crash years ago; or when I rear ended a stalled car going 50 miles an hour at 20 years old. I thought to myself how little my problems were in that moment as a young man was hanging on the edge of life and death.

Not to long ago, I was listening to someone talk about their problems, and I asked them a question. If I were to put everyone’s problems on a piece of paper, and put them individually in a basket, would you choose to keep your own problem, or would you randomly select to have someone else’s problem? Of course the answer was that they would keep their own problem.

In our social circles, we debate the message we heard from the preacher on Sunday and in the political forums, we argue in defense of the politician we support.

Of course, politics do matter because it shapes the policy that we follow, it develops the culture we live in, and it forms the direction in which we grow as a society; but it should never cost us our humanity.

As we get deeper into the current political cycle, every candidate is digging their heals in with more dirt on their opponent and the accusations have begun to hit harder and pierce deeper into the campaign of their foes.

I often wonder, “where do people find some of these damning stories on people that 6 months ago we barely knew;” and we haven’t even made it to the primary yet.

Debates and arguments are nothing new. In the book of James, chapter 4 and verse 1, James asks the question, “where do wars come from?” He then follows it up with the answer, “the internal selfish desires, passions and pleasures that wage war within us.”

I have mostly always been an individual that lived by the belief of “live and let live,” but I must admit that the past few years, I have not been so much of a let live person. In fact yesterday, by brother sent me a quote. When you’re dead, you don’t know you’re dead. The pain is felt by others. The same thing happens when you’re stupid.” This statement could’t be more true.

I look at politics, and while our own political party suffers because we cannot find common ground, the opposition walks all over us without having to really do anything. Rather than having candidates who have a similar belief system, promote what they are going to do to help our county or state or country, they have turned their campaign into a contest of seeing who can find the most wrong with the other.

You may have heard it said at one time or another, “Its not whether you win or lose but how you played the game.” In some instances, I believe this to be 100% correct, but I propose that maybe we aren’t winning because of how we are playing the game.

There is strength in unity. The bible says that a house divided will fall.

Consider this, in the west, Islam is the fastest growing religion, while christianity as a whole has declined. Maybe its because islam only has two main sects, the Shia and the Sunni. Where christianity has well over 40,000 denominations. Islam is unified and seeing success, while Christianity is dying because of struggle with unity.

I opened this article with a story about a car accident and the death of a teenager. Many lives were changed in an matter of seconds from this accident. A mother lost her child. A young man lost his brother, and another young man could potentially face vehicular homicide charges. The after affects could go on and on.

What I want to make clear is not the tragic death of young man, but the importance of our priorities.

When you support your candidate, is it at the expense of someone else, or in the confidence of what you are voting for?

When you cultivate your relationships, are you more concerned with finding people that agree with everything you say or do you seek out those who may not always agree with you so that you can grow?

When you read something you disagree with, are you quick to criticize or do you seek understanding so that you can have a clear picture of the message.

The book of Proverbs tells us that arguing with a fool is pointless, causes frustration, and lowers you to their level. A fool is uninterested in wisdom and only wants to express their own opinion. I heard someone say onetime that opinions are like ass holes. Everyone has one and they all stink.

So while we are debating politics, while we are arguing religion, while we are disagreeing with the ones that we love to prove our own point, the things that really matter are getting ignored.

We debate everything but death and what comes after it.