In the news this week is the story of a young boy who was shot while in a booster seat in the backseat of a car in an apparent road rage incident. This is such a tragedy. Only 6 years old, the very definition of innocence. The Bible says God is near the brokenhearted and that’s a promise that I hope is fulfilled for this family as they move forward short one family member. He was a son, a brother, a nephew, and was so new to the world. I’m sure he never thought about road rage, angry people, or what it would be like to face death. Those are things adults think about, which really shouldn’t be something anyone should have to think about. As a person who was almost in an incident like this (click here for my story of a road rage driver pointing a gun at me), I can say with 100% confidence that having a gun pointed in your direction is very scary. It’s something I think about a lot, even three years later. For all I know, the man pulled the trigger and it just didn’t fire for whatever reason. That’s an experience that could have severely altered my life, or even brought an end to it. My behavior on the roads and highways has changed since then and although I still get impatient, I think twice or three times or nine times before I act in anger.
As I watched the news about this story on ABC this morning, only one thing struck me as a bit odd. They reported that her car had a bullet hole in the back, coming through the trunk to the cabin of her vehicle. The mother, who was driving the car, said in her interview that the suspect(s) cut her off on the highway. So how is it that they were shooting from behind her? My guess is she had a bit of road rage, too, and acted in anger after she was cut off. Maybe she sped up to return the gesture by cutting them off further down the highway. An article I read reported the mother was just trying to get away from the other vehicle and that’s when the shot came through but I think there is more to the story.
I’m definitely not saying there is any justification in the shooting. I hope the suspects are found and pay for what they did. It’s too bad a young man suffered the consequences for immature adults, one of which may have been his own mom.
What do you think about this story? Do you think the boy’s mom might have played even a small part in fueling the anger that caused this tragedy?
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-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 