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Sept 1, 2003 "I need to speak to the prosecutor please," I say into my plastic phone. Next to me, the Grump-photographer is making crude remarks way too loudly into his phone. "Um....I'm on the phone too.." I say to him, but he is mad at me for objecting...and he shows me with a look. But the Prosecutor has taken me off hold. It's not the name I was expecting..."Are you handling the case with the man who had a car accident that resulted in a little girl dying?" I ask him. "Well, the prosecutor is out. I'm the assistant prosecutor. I know the case very well. What do you need to know?" "I need to know if a complaint was signed against him yet..." "No charges against him so far." The reporter next to me is rolling her eyes at the news there are no charges against him. The case is making her sick. She wants justice..she wants to see the driver pay. A young man was driving, maybe even too fast, and he struck a girl. I was sent to cover the story. I want to be as gentle as possible. As she sees me leaving the newsroom, the Compassion-less editor loudly reminds me she knows this about me..and she urges me to be ruthless in my reporting..."Lose that heart," she calls after me. "Never," I call back to her. The room smiles. Even the Compassion-less editor smiles..... I go to the site of the accident..and from relatives and friends who make flowers suddenly appear on a nearby intersection,I piece together what happened that day... It's the story of two best, best, best friends... little girls....excited to see each other after a children's eternity of not being together...weeks..while they'd taken family vacations... So when seeing each other again....they went bike riding..on a main street....for ice cream... But that is where the day took a sudden twist...In the lives of the two girls..In the lives of their families...the community..and a young man driving southbound..... He struck one of the little girls with his car. She was taken to the hospital, where she died. People were outraged.... That the man hit her. That he was perhaps speeding..that the sweet girl died. that the best friend watched what no child should see....that a little girl now goes on without her best friend. Yet... The father.... Spoke to me.... About the last few moments..when his daughter was barely hanging on to life at the hospital... And the thoughts that ran through his mind. He said he thought....Why did this happen?... Who has done this to her? He had a brief moment of thinking like that before something occured to him... Maybe the man was speeding...but he had done the same for sure once or twice ..and he thought....maybe everyone has at one time gone over the speed limit... And he said it occured to him..this man did not wake up thinking I am going to go kill someone that day...This man had an accident...and accidents happen. And the father choose compassion. I attended the funeral. And during it, I was floored to hear them pray for the driver. This was compassion like I had never seen. I have learned a lot from them. I am all the better a person for having met this man...his wife..their other children..and their community...a loving, compassion-filled community. I have invited him to tell his story here and he has said, "Yes." I will tell the full story, when he is ready. He and the family are exhausted ....p> For now, I take his example to heart. For sure, if he can find forgiveness in his heart..I can too. For sure, if he can be compassionate toward someone, I can too. For sure, if he can take an accident as just that...an accident...not a personal offense..not something to sue over...not something to become bitter over...then I can too. I am re-thinking a lot of things because of it.....But..... It is late now... and I am still in the newsroom... with lots to write...So I will tell you more tomorrow. ------------ About the author: Chrissa Falcon is a newspaper reporter in the New York Metropolitan Area. Chrissa may be reached at ChrisFalconColumn@hotmail.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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