...and make me want to throw my Bible in frustration. I know I shouldn't throw it, but sometimes ...
Anyhow, there are so many things wrong with the following story I don't even know where to start. It's times like this that make me wonder why God doesn't just strike us all dead, because being human is so incredibly insane. We are driven to lunacy by the most momentary things. We are so unpredictable, so self-centered, so fallible.
And so fragile.
From CNN.com
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- A lovesick teenage girl drove into an oncoming car in a suicide attempt that she counted down "8, 7, 6..." in a text message to the female classmate who spurned her, authorities said. The teenager survived but a woman in the other car -- a mother of three -- died.Louise Egan Brunstad, 16, was charged Thursday with felony murder. Prosecutors said they intend to try her as an adult. If convicted, she faces an automatic life sentence.
"She was actually counting down her imminent threat: 'Nine, eight, seven, six ... I'm going to do it,"' said Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.
Authorities said Brunstad rammed her family's Mercedes-Benz head-on into a smaller Daewoo driven by 30-year-old Nancy Salado-Mayo, who was killed. Salado-Mayo's middle child, Lesly, 6, was in a child safety seat and was treated for fractured ribs and other injuries.
Brunstad, who was treated for an ankle injury, had told friends she planned to kill herself after another female student at Holy Innocents Episcopal School refused to have sex with her, Howard said.
Witnesses told police the girl never slowed as she crossed over a turning lane and into oncoming traffic on busy Roswell Road in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood on October 4.
"She was traveling at a high rate of speed," Howard said. "This is an intentional action."
The girl's attorney, Drew Findling, declined to discuss the allegations but expressed the family's sadness over the accident.
"This young lady and her parents are devastated by this horrible accident and by the death of Mrs. Salado-Mayo and the injuries of her daughter," Findling said. "They are praying for the quick and healthy recovery of her daughter and for the well-being of her husband and other children."
After a memorial service in Atlanta, Salado-Mayo's body was returned to her native Mexico for burial. Her husband, Mario Bibiano, a steel worker, was unable to attend the funeral because he remained by his daughter's bedside at an Atlanta hospital.
Brunstad was on crutches in court Thursday for a brief hearing on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. Howard said she is being held at a mental health facility, and is wearing an electronic monitor around her ankle to prevent her from running away.
I'm going to have a soapbox moment here -- on the thing they don't often enough tell teens about sex.
Open letter to teenagers -- Don't do it.
Not because of unwanted pregnancy -- not because of sexually transmitted diseases -- not because you don't want to develop a "bad reputation" -- not even because it's wrong or a sin. [Not to minimize any of those reasons. That's not my point.]
We tell you not to have sex as a teenager because the world is still so internal to you. Everything is so tragic. Your life is full of highs and lows and very little in-betweens. We all were like that. We have all had those moments as a teen where we believed life couldn't possibly go on. When I was 16, my boyfriend of 9 months [darned near eternity in high school] dumped me. I was sure he was my soul-mate. The ONE. He gave me a ring fercryinoutloud. Life would never go on without him.
And yet it did. And today, after 15 years of marriage [to someone else, thank God] , that context of 9 months seems so insignificant. But at 16, I was willing to end my life over it. You see, teenagers live in their own world. Everything that is important to you seems like it ought to be all-important to everyone. That's not because you are not mature or capable of feeling true love or passion, but because YOU ARE. Everything that happens to you, everything you feel, is tangible and real, but it lies only within the context of a limited number of years of life experience. Broaden the focus a decade or two and your perspective is sure to change.
And I don't for one moment want to trivialize how difficult it is to be a teen. It royally sucks. But because your life has still been so short there are still so many things you don't know about yourself. It's nearly impossible to think outside today or to anticipate how your actions today will shape your life [and the lives of others] 20 years from now, because right now you are trying to figure out who you are. A tremendous amount of your emotional energy is consumed with introspection and self-reflection. Add sex into that equation and you can easily end up being unable to cope with your myriad of intense feelings.
But now, this 16 year old girl, who was devastated because of a love-interest's rejection, will likely spend most of her youth, if not her life, in prison. The children of the woman she killed will grow up forever without a momma. That husband, who was unable to attend his wife's funeral because he was at the bedside of his horribly injured little girl, has to face raising these children alone. All because of woman scorned.
I have no idea what else has gone on in this young lady's life -- I'm willing to bet there was more to her pain than just this one incident of rejection. But I do know one thing -- if sex hadn't been in the picture this likely would not have happened.
Maybe I'm seeing this particular picture all wrong. Even if what I have said isn't true for this young lady, I know it is true for countless other teens.
Contrary to what the worldwide single most popular athletic brand tells you:
Don't Do It.
<-- end soapbox-->
amen.
ReplyDeletecindy