Senseless

My stepsister’s long time boyfriend, whom Em and I had the pleasure of meeting while in CA this summer, was killed by a drunk driver Friday afternoon.

My heart aches. My reaction? ANGER. How dare he? How dare anyone for that matter? What gives this (or any) idiot the right to take the lives of others into his own hands by knowingly getting behind the wheel of a car while under the influence? To cut a life short, thereby affecting the lives of countless others, because he was so careless and arrogant to think that he was invincible? To think that his actions would be of no consequence to the unsuspecting souls who never even had the chance to cast a vote in how their lives would proceed that day? My only hope is that the magnitude of the depths of pain he has and will continue to cause in the lives of those affected will haunt him every day for the rest of his life, which I can only hope will mostly be spent behind bars.

Angry… and helpless. Helpless to right the wrong, to make sense out of the senseless, to lessen the pain of their grief and mourning.

Perhaps it’s naive, but I would also like to think that the realization of this tragedy has shown some other would be drunk driver how quickly this one avoidable choice can destroy so many lives including his/her own. I hope so, I truly truly hope so. Wishful thinking? Maybe. But I prefer to believe in at least the possibility of it. Something to hold on to when there is so little else.