And The Sympathy Just Left The Room…
So, Josh Hancock died last Sunday. Cardinals fans mourned his passing.
Until today…
This just in: Josh Hancock was nearly twice the legal limit DRUNK and probably high as they found his marijuana in the car. He was speeding down the highway when he shouldn’t have been in a car at all. He was an abomination to responsible drivers on that highway.
I have no sympathy for you now. You could have hurt someone. You could have killed my wife. You could have killed my sons. At least you just killed yourself. I guess I can thank you for that. You got what you deserved.
(At least you’re not Leonard Little.)
May 4th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Wow. Drunk drivers deserve to die? I guess we as citizens should maybe be allowed to shoot them dead if we see them get into their car and turn the key. Yeah, we should just kill them before they possible kill someone else. Legal murder.
Wait. No. That’s not right ’cause drunk drivers certainly do not deserve to die.
Yes, they’re schmucks and no way in hell am I defending that Cardinal idiot, especially for the double whammy of being drunk AND talking on that damn blight to society the cell phone… but ya know what, they do deserve *some* sympathy. We should feel a little sad for ALL stoopid people, even drunk drivers. And even if they do kill and survive the crash themselves, they should even be forgiven! What a damn concept, huh?
They should be forgiven not deserving of death.
May 4th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Yes. They do deserve death. Ask any kids whose mom/dad/uncle/whatever got killed by a drunk driver. Yes, you should be able to shoot them dead before they turn the key.
NO SYMPATHY…EVER.
May 4th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I can certainly testify that our system is too leniant on drunk drivers. My dad has had so many wrecks, he’s hurt other people as well as himself. He has endangered the lives of countless innocent people. There were times that he somehow drove home, and didn’t even know he did. He had no recollection of driving or where he even parked his car. And yet he roams free to re-offend at his whim. He even had the balls to complain to me once, after he was released from a correctional treatent center, that poor him had to got to meetings everyday….whaaaa! I told him he’s lucky not to have to be going to those meetings in a wheelchair or with someone’s death hanging over him for the rest of his life. He didn’t have anything to say.
His latest offense landed him and his passenger in the ER with broken bones, glass in his eyes, another wrecked car, multiple surgeries….and when he went to court, the whole case was thrown out because the nurse who drew his blood that night had moved with her family to another state and wasn’t present to testify that she was, in fact, the drawer of his blood.
There needs to be some major changes.
I have driven home drunk in the past, myself a couple of times. I’m not proud of it. Especially when I am trying to make my point to my dad. He doesn’t know I’ve done it before because I’ve never “gotten caught.” This is one of the reasons why I don’t even drink anymore. I don’t really even enjoy hanging out with people who are drinking. When you are in that state, you don’t make good decisions. I speak from experience when I say, there needs to be some changes made on so many levels.
I think it’s sad, that something such as this whick is SO preventable, continues to happen. Millions of dollars are spent on awareness and prevention of such things. It would have been so simple and responsible for him to have made other arrangements to get wherever that night. Which is true in most all other cases.
I think it just goes to show…no matter who you are or what’s going on, it’s so important to think before you act. If you know you are going to a bar for drinks and getting high, make a call to get a ride. Call someone ahead, make arrangements. Call a cab. Call a limo, if you got the cash. Or, here’s a novel idea, drink and smoke at home where you don’t need to drive! Sleep at the bar….
You have options.
His mistake didn’t start with the driving drunk…his mistake started when he decided to go to the bar to drink and didn’t make arrangements ahead of time.
You may not all agree, but only God decides when people die – contrary to today’s popular beliefs.
May 4th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Any Christian who reads and lives his or her life by the Bible and has Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior most certainly would forgive the drunk driver for killing his or her mom or dad or sister or brother or son or daughter or wife or husband. Forgiveness is very important and so is sympathy. That does not excuse drunk driving AT ALL… but no, they don’t deserve death, not at all. They deserve rehabilitation and forgiveness and if the crime is severe enough they deserve jailtime… but no drunk driver deserves to be dead. Life is not disposable because we don’t agree with what they did. Drunk driving is a mistake and one of the severest in all the land but yet again, I’ve gotta reiterate — it’s not deserving of death no matter what the outcome.
May 4th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Sure, let’s just give the drunk drivers a great, big hug and a ‘Jesus Loves You’ sticker.
Apparently, I’m not alone.
“He may have been unhittable, but that tow truck sure wasn’t.”
“So all in all, we can stop feeling sad for this asshole, and be glad that he only killed himself and not anyone else.”
May 4th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Forgiveness isn’t saying what happened was right or rewardable with a sticker.
It’s a disposition to pardon.
Perhaps not all people entertain said disposition or they weigh it down with levels of deserving (or not), but it’s interesting to see that when it’s our own infraction, we look to others to find it in themselves to be forgiving.
May 4th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
I think we are confusing Forgiveness and sympathy.
Patrick said he has no sympathy for him.
Let’s not confuse the two issues, they are so completely different.
Sometimes they are both seen together but they do not mean the same thing.
The man didn’t kill or hurt anyone else for there to be any forgiveness to show.
He unecessarily killed himself, something so preventable. It’s hard to have sympathy in that situation.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
“Life is not disposable because we don’t agree with what they did.”
Don’t agree? This isn’t about agreeing. HE ENDANGERED LIVES. And his death, while tragic, SAVES LIVES. (And yes, I just quoted Nicholson.)
There is now one less drunken drug addict talking on his cell phone while speeding down the highway. Maybe we can all sleep just a little better.
May 5th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Thanks for linking to one of our posts. I figured I’d weigh in just to hear myself speak at 3 am.
If Hancock took out a family of 4 coming back from a trip or a school bus, this story would have no sympathetic spin to it.
Even though I write a blog with somewhat questionable content at times, I take Christianity and forgiveness seriously and would never wish to exact death on anyone who was pulled over driving drunk or presume anyone to place that penalty on another person. I think the issue here is Hancock alone was made to suffer the consequences of what he did and that makes a lot of other people on the road that night lucky.
Alcohol, marijuana, seat belt, cell phone. All or one of those things could have changed everything. It is a waste and I am sorry he died, but everyone else is lucky nothing more was lost.
His standing with Jesus is nothing I can control, but it is not against Jesus to be thankful that no one else was hurt by one man’s wreckless decisions.