Not So Much Funny As Tragic

I've been holding off on posting this for most of this week. At first, I didn't think it was in good taste, but then I realised that as long as I'm respectful, there's nothing wrong with it. Perhaps this will explain why I haven't gone out of my way to be humorous these past few days.

The HR Manager at my work (who I've rarely seen eye-to-eye with, it must be said) suffered a terrible loss last Friday. Depending on where you are in the world, you may have heard about a fatal hit-and-run accident that happened in Melbourne last Friday night. The parents were later seen on the News, crying, asking the driver to please come forward. The HR Manager at my work was the father of the 20-year-old who was struck and killed.

Actually, forget the word 'accident' in the above paragraph. I don't care if the actual collision was an accident. I'm talking to the cowardly killer behind the wheel, here. In my book, by driving off and trying to avoid the repercussions of what you did, you have officially lost the right to use the word 'accident'.

As I said before, the HR Manager and myself aren't the closest of people here in the office. But all that ceases to be important when faced with the tragic and terribly-irreversible loss he has been forced into by the selfish, stupid, possibly-drunken act of cowardly behaviour that some stranger has perpetrated on him and his family. What a waste.

I hope the driver is wracked with guilt. Not for any sick 'revenge / serves you right' kind of karma thing; I just hope it leads to the guilty party eventually being unable to live with the knowledge that their actions caused the death of an innocent young man and they turn themselves in to the police.

A whole circle of family and friends have had their hearts ripped out in this situation. Once by the ridiculously-avoidable death of this 20-year-old, and then a second time by the driver having taken off and left him to die. It disgusts me.

We could start comparing this one death to the millions who die from war and starvation, etc, each year, but that would be detracting from the tragedy this man I know is going through. And the additional tragedy that the person responsible for it is still out there somewhere, hiding. It would be inappropriate to start comparing an apple to a truckload of oranges. I'm not talking here about the biggest injustice I've ever heard of.

Just the biggest tragedy to touch my life in the last seven days.

And I certainly wouldn't want it to happen to me.

Turn yourself in, you coward.