You Reap What You Sow

I recently read several articles in various newspapers and magazines, pieces which were written in such a way (in my opinion) to elicit feelings of sympathy towards some folks who were met with a less-than-natural death. While I am generally a pretty empathetic person, I can't help by feel the total opposite towards people who make their bed in a risky situation by choice (and that's the key) and end up paying the ultimate price for their actions or decisions.

Take, for instance, the article of the teenage speeder who had about $100,000 worth of modifications / add-ons to his car, a souped-up, completely illegal street racer, complete with nitrous oxide tank. You can imagined how he died - yep, in a street race, and yep, his NO tank blew up. The article mentions, "what a tragic loss of life". I don't debate that point, but at the same time, I don't feel sorry for him (or his parents, who no doubt helped finance all these mods). Don't tell me that you put that much stuff into a car knowing it will make the car go faster, then get into a street race and end up killed as a result. Thankfully, no innocent bystanders were killed.

I find it hard to really feel any sympathy for what happened here. Most teenagers will make mistakes, but dare I say it, most teenagers know the difference between typical juvenile antics and putting yourself in a potentially life threatening situation. It's no different than the person who goes skydiving and ends up dying because their chute would not open. Should we feel sorry for them, since they knew the risks going in, and skydiving is not something you NEED to do - some have argued with me that the same risks are carried in driving a car - that is true, but many people NEED to drive a car to get to work, transport their kids, buy groceries, etc. No one NEEDS to skydive.

The second one is an article about a smoker who smoked all of their life, but quit at the tail end, but after 40 years, developed (drumroll) lung cancer. Yeah, they quit, but it's no different than the person who sleeps around before they finally get married and settled down, only to discover that they ended up getting AIDS from their previous encounters. Is it sad? Yes. Should I feel sorry for them? Absolutely not. Reminds me of another recent news article about a Major League pitcher who was found dead after a horrific car accident. The tox tests after determined that he was very drunk (more than twice the limit), his friend indicated he was talking on his cell phone, and he had weed in the glove compartment. It sux that he died, but oh well...life goes on...

The third article is a recent incident of a house party going bad, with a fight spilling out into the street. I've never understood house parties. They get crashed easily and with a lot of people who are uninvited showing up, it just asks for trouble. This guy who went to a house party ended up getting into an argument about some schoolyard issue and a fight led to a stabbing and the stabbing, to death. In looking at this guy's past, he wasn't exactly a role model for young men, so again...what do you expect?

I don't know why the media tends to romanticize these types of stories - why not focus on the people who play by the rules, who have positive contributions to society, who avoid risky behaviour, who die a "better death" after a life well lived? Why does the media tend to focus on people (ie. celebrities) who live a hedonistic lifestyle only to die by that lifestyle, at which point they try to paint them as victims. Please, save your ink and write about something else.