Tag Archives: tragedy

Cinnamon & Ants: Making Sense Out of a Truck Crash Tragedy

August 28, 2016Truck Safetycrash death, grief, tragedyMarianne

Two years ago, I wrote a facebook post about what ants & cinnamon had taught me about truck crash tragedy and grief. I was reminded of that this morning as our family is, once again, battling a kitchen ant invasion.

Here is the post: Cinnamon & Ants: Making Sense Out Of Tragedy
Ants invaded our kitchen last week–through the windows. We had tried pesticide on the floor by the door the week before and they clearly re-routed.

One morning, when I came out to the kitchen, I discovered over 100 ants marching one by one (boo! boo!).

Now they were tiny and easily squashed with my finger, but they were all over the counter and windowsill and I needed to be doing other things with my time. So I sprayed them with my citrus spray and that took care of those unwelcome invaders.

Of course, they were only the tip of the iceberg. So I. . .

Well, you will have to read the rest of the story here: Cinnamon & Ants: Making Sense Out Of Tragedy

And here is the video that goes with it:

Do what it takes to prevent people from unnecessarily dying in motor vehicle crashes.

January 9, 2016AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safetygrace of God, grief, safety advocacy, tragedyMarianne

It really bothers me when people frequently suggest that someone came out of a horrible crash alive because of the grace of God. I have a hard time thinking that because the flip side would be to conclude that His grace did not bother to save my girls.

Instead, I choose to trust Romans 8:28 that He will make all things work together for good and that He will give me the grace to get through what happened. And He did allow it to happen, which has caused me a great deal of struggle with some Bible verses which talk about His angels having charge over us, etc. (For example, Psalm 91)

On the other hand, I don’t think that it is exactly what He had in mind for people to die in such tragic ways. I think that He has given us the wisdom to do our part and whenever possible to do what it takes to prevent people from unnecessarily dying from motor vehicle crashes. He doesn’t mean for us to live carelessly or irresponsibly and simply expect that our guardian angels will always take up the slack for us.

The fact of the matter is that we all have responsibility to do our part–whether it is to drive responsibly or to determine what needs to be done to make our roads safer. This can include so many things such as technology, equipment design, road design, traffic laws, safety regulations, enforcement, and criminal justice.

And so, I feel confident that He will hear my prayer when I ask for breakthroughs in safety issues and that He will lead me in the path of safety advocacy and by His Spirit move through people to bring about change. And when there is resistance and opposition, I will do all in my power to draw attention to it and shed light on the truth.

And when there is tragedy, then, as AnnaLeah’s craft project above says, “In my life, Lord, Thy will be done.”

Meanwhile, let’s join together and work Toward Zero Deaths: https://www.change.org/p/obama-adopt-a-vision-zero-goal-and-sign-an-executive-order-to-save-lives-not-dollars and http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/

OTHER POSTS RELEVANT TO THIS DIFFICULT TOPIC: https://annaleahmary.com/tag/safety/

Pay Attention, America! Help bring totally avoidable crashes to a stop!

September 30, 2014Truck Safetyaccountability, closure, driver fatigue, tragedyMarianne

Please read this article written about the unfolding tragedy–which never seems to end–due to a truck/car crash in August 2010.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-30/death-on-highway-leaves-trucker-angry-at-widower-and-god.html

I did a chart showing the estimated number of deaths due to truck crashes, just since 1984, and the lives impacted–almost 500,000 people who had a curve ball thrown at them when they were not looking and many of them likely still not over it to this day. Truck Crash Fatality Chart

I recently wrote about some of my own struggles in coping with a senseless tragedy: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=707717949310722&id=464993830249803

In fact, I have taken advantage of facebook and our own memorial website to express what we have been going through. It has helped me immensely. I hope that it will help others.