An acquaintance has recently blogged that the 22 year old Thomas Wopat-Something has received his just desserts if his spinal cord injury turns out to be permanent.
I am stunned at the maliciousness of this. This is a person whom I respect. I know everyone has an off day, but when I questioned her on this, she redoubled her statement. People on the Taconic speed all the time. Locals have been killed by non-locals who were speeding on what is a local road and not an interstate and certainly not a speedway. Those are tragedies and there's no doubt about that.
If Wopat-Something's spinal injuries are severe enough to cause complete or partial paraplegia, that's a harsh sentence for speeding. Yes, we know paraplegia is not the end of the world or the end of a life, although it does cause lives to take unexpectedly different directions most of the time.
For going too fast, Wopat-Something likely faces surgery, painful recovery, and rehab. I'm sure he would have much rather pay the $200 fine for speeding and lose his license if he was, in fact, driving under the influence. If he had been speeding, he should have slowed down.
That's like wishing Stage IV lung cancer on someone who smokes a pack a day. The punishment in no way mirrors the crime - if there was one.
Mostly, I'm surprised at the harshness of this woman's judgment. I know her usually to be just and fair, so this venomous take on this shocked me.
Ironically, this woman's husband was severely disabled before he died.
Could she have forgotten this so easily? Or has her anger marred her judgment?
I hope she doesn't find out that I went 80 mph on the Turnpike last Thursday.
