Bumpers, Bella, & Baby
One New Year's Eve, we had just found a parking place in the city.
Soon, we would be at the NYE N.Y.E. (New Year's Eve) party. About five seconds after I parked my lil' ol' Honda Civic, a dude in a minivan in front of us, backed up, smashed into our front bumper, then took off. The damage, I bet, is going to cost $ 400 to get fixed (heck, I am getting to the point where I could be an estimator for Maaco).
Yes, starting New Year's Eve off with a bang. He had plenty of room to pull out and go forward. Only he may know why he backed up instead. Perhaps his imbibing had started early. He has also been outside of his car as we had pulled up, so it is hard to explain why he did what he did. To err is human, but to not own up for it, is of the Devil.
If it was a tight spot, or if I had a Dallas Cowboy front license plate, I could get his action. What really pissed me off is that he didn't get out of his car to inspect the damage. It was a jolting hit. Like a punk, he drove away. Not the smartest dude apparently; as he pulled out, somehow he forgot that his license plate was up in our face. That made the police report a little more specific.
I am feeling as if I have the automotive equivalent of a middle-school "Kick Me" sign on my back. This is the 4th time in less than a decade that my car has been hit when I have not been at fault. Now twice, both times in Lancaster City, the other driver took off and didn't stick around to deal with the consequences. In two of these four accidents, I have had two Temple University license plates crushed and mangled. Based on how my Dissertation is going, this is an appropriate metaphor.
The dude playing bumper cars, and run, with us was African-American. I learned a long time ago to see people as individual's and not as a stereotype. I will neither attribute his reckless, and then dishonest actions, to his racial identity. Nor, will I make allowances for it (an "Affirmative Action on Accidents" of sorts) where I excuse his behavior because he comes from a people who have been oppressed. When an African-American male can become the President of the U.S., I think we have moved into a different phase of history.
For all of the talk about Lancaster City needing more police, what we really need is less crime. I really don't get the lack of conscience of some people. Didn't his mother teach him the basics of being a decent human being? All the police in the world can't take the place of parents and schools who teach right and wrong. Unfortunately, when the Ten Commandments were removed from classrooms, it sent the message that morality now was up for grabs.
Interestingly, my wife Lina and I watched the film "Bella" last night. The pivotal scene early on (stop reading if you don't want to know more), involves a car accident with tragic consequences. The rest of the film is a story of redemption out of tragedy for the guilty main character who does not flee the scene but embraces it in all of its sadness and horror. He is haunted by the past yet uses this ultimately as a way to identify with suffering people and to help them, especially a pregnant young woman with a sad past too, to find real healing and real hope.
What crashes in our lives can Christ use to heal ourselves and others? Can we learn to better use tragedy to become a more compassionate and giving people? Better and not bitter? The film-maker noted how most popular films with Latinos portray them as pimps, prostitutes, gang-bangers, and drug dealers. As a Latino himself (most of the main and minor characters in the film are Latino) he wanted to show the closeness of Hispanic families, the love, the forgiveness, and the faith.
In the end, the man (main character) does not get "the girl." But he does get her girl (the baby). And, that is a beautiful outcome out of the crash. Pray that our situation, with the Honda, though really not a big thing, brings all of us involved, to redemption.
Soon, we would be at the NYE N.Y.E. (New Year's Eve) party. About five seconds after I parked my lil' ol' Honda Civic, a dude in a minivan in front of us, backed up, smashed into our front bumper, then took off. The damage, I bet, is going to cost $ 400 to get fixed (heck, I am getting to the point where I could be an estimator for Maaco).
Yes, starting New Year's Eve off with a bang. He had plenty of room to pull out and go forward. Only he may know why he backed up instead. Perhaps his imbibing had started early. He has also been outside of his car as we had pulled up, so it is hard to explain why he did what he did. To err is human, but to not own up for it, is of the Devil.
If it was a tight spot, or if I had a Dallas Cowboy front license plate, I could get his action. What really pissed me off is that he didn't get out of his car to inspect the damage. It was a jolting hit. Like a punk, he drove away. Not the smartest dude apparently; as he pulled out, somehow he forgot that his license plate was up in our face. That made the police report a little more specific.
I am feeling as if I have the automotive equivalent of a middle-school "Kick Me" sign on my back. This is the 4th time in less than a decade that my car has been hit when I have not been at fault. Now twice, both times in Lancaster City, the other driver took off and didn't stick around to deal with the consequences. In two of these four accidents, I have had two Temple University license plates crushed and mangled. Based on how my Dissertation is going, this is an appropriate metaphor.
The dude playing bumper cars, and run, with us was African-American. I learned a long time ago to see people as individual's and not as a stereotype. I will neither attribute his reckless, and then dishonest actions, to his racial identity. Nor, will I make allowances for it (an "Affirmative Action on Accidents" of sorts) where I excuse his behavior because he comes from a people who have been oppressed. When an African-American male can become the President of the U.S., I think we have moved into a different phase of history.
For all of the talk about Lancaster City needing more police, what we really need is less crime. I really don't get the lack of conscience of some people. Didn't his mother teach him the basics of being a decent human being? All the police in the world can't take the place of parents and schools who teach right and wrong. Unfortunately, when the Ten Commandments were removed from classrooms, it sent the message that morality now was up for grabs.
Interestingly, my wife Lina and I watched the film "Bella" last night. The pivotal scene early on (stop reading if you don't want to know more), involves a car accident with tragic consequences. The rest of the film is a story of redemption out of tragedy for the guilty main character who does not flee the scene but embraces it in all of its sadness and horror. He is haunted by the past yet uses this ultimately as a way to identify with suffering people and to help them, especially a pregnant young woman with a sad past too, to find real healing and real hope.
What crashes in our lives can Christ use to heal ourselves and others? Can we learn to better use tragedy to become a more compassionate and giving people? Better and not bitter? The film-maker noted how most popular films with Latinos portray them as pimps, prostitutes, gang-bangers, and drug dealers. As a Latino himself (most of the main and minor characters in the film are Latino) he wanted to show the closeness of Hispanic families, the love, the forgiveness, and the faith.
In the end, the man (main character) does not get "the girl." But he does get her girl (the baby). And, that is a beautiful outcome out of the crash. Pray that our situation, with the Honda, though really not a big thing, brings all of us involved, to redemption.
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