At risk

Today Bestest was out running through his neighborhood. Not unusual. He runs nearly every day.

When I visited, we walked his dog through that same neighborhood. Three and a half miles every day with a boisterous white lab whose greatest joy is the few minutes of freedom she has to tree squirrels near the end of the walk.

Bestest never allows his dog to run when there are people, or cars nearby, but we have talked about the way cars and trucks fly through this gated community.

You can never tell whether it is the people who live there, or the people who build their houses, care for their lawns, clean their homes, or are just visiting them, but they tear through these quiet suburban streets on the same ground that six year olds play kick ball and eight year olds ride their bikes and toddlers wander out onto while the parents talk to each other.

I have seen all these things happen.

They are not unusual.

It is only if they happen to cross paths that tragedy could result and turn this little Eden into a nightmare of regret.

We've talked about this, worried for the children, but today it was Bestest who was hit by a car running a stop sign and whirling around the corner to plow into him.

It stopped in time to only leave him bruised and sore. It did not smash any of his bones, or kill him, thank God. But what if . . .

What if it had been a child, or a dog, or a group of children? What if it had run over him? How would any of us survive that? The grief of family and friends and the person driving the vehicle who wasn't trying to hurt anyone, or maliciously break any laws, but who carelessly and unthinkingly put anyone on the streets at risk, could have been horrific.

This should be a warning, a blessed chance to make people stop and think before the unthinkable happens.