Time to Man Up

I am amazed at the number of times I read or hear about someone colliding with another motorist, someone on a bicycle, or someone walking alongside the road, and then leaves the scene of the accident.  It happened again last night in Wichita.  Someone hit a person on a bicycle and fled the scene.  That person is in serious condition at a hospital.

My wife says I shouldn’t be so amazed; that the culture of self is alive and well; that it doesn’t take much to turn a person into someone very self-centered and, well, let’s just say it…ugly.

There could be any number of reasons why someone would choose to leave the scene of an accident and leave a victim lying on the roadway or in the ditch, injured or perhaps dead.  The perp could be driving illegally, not have a license, be driving a stolen vehicle, not have insurance, or be wanted on a warrant.  He/she could be inebriated by drugs or alcohol and either not realize he hit someone or the drugs make him not care.

The perp could just be selfish enough to not have any moral scruples about human life and obedience to the law.  Or he/she could be scared and not thinking right.  Whatever the reason, it is really no reason at all.

Ravi Zacharias, Christian apologist and speaker, says that without acknowledgment of a higher power and transcendent moral code, there is no rational moral foundation upon which to build one’s world view.  Those who disagree say that morality is inherent within the human being and society through evolution and does not need a transcendent being to exist.

I’d ask you to take a look around and tell me what you honestly think.  Where did our moral foundation come from?  Why is it wrong to murder?  Rape?  Rob?  What difference does it make if I do those things if there is no overarching moral code and moral lawgiver to hold me accountable?  What difference does it make if I drive illegally and hit someone walking on the side of the road?  Who says that is wrong?  Where does that come from?

What would life be like if everyone had their own moral code?  What kind of society would we live in?  How safe would you be in this society?  How secure would your children be venturing out beyond the boundaries of home?

Let’s take that down a notch or two.  What if everyone had their own set of traffic laws and rules that they followed for themselves?  What if some drove 35, some 65 and some 95 on Kellogg Avenue?  What if some stayed within the lines and some didn’t?  What if some went on green lights and some on red?  I think you’re probably saying something to the effect that these things are happening right now.  And you’re right.  And daily, we see the effects of this kind of thinking; wrecked vehicles and mangled bodies.

Everyone makes mistakes.  Everyone from time to time misses that car coming from the side street.  Everyone sometimes becomes distracted and fails to see a pedestrian or cyclist.  Most of the time, nothing bad happens.  But when it does, it’s time to “man up” (regardless of one’s gender) and own the situation.  It’s time to step up and admit an error.  It’s time to make right the wrong that one has created.  Selfishness and self-centeredness never fails to bite the hand that feeds it…never fails to get its due.