Practice what you preach

Smiling at the wedding reception

I have lots of pics from the wedding and the reception that will probably continue to sprout up in here for a few days. This little girl was all smiles until she got tired and crashed. For the wedding she had a very feminine and very pink full skirted dress on. For the reception she kicked back and donned a onesie. You go girl!

Driving home from work today, I pass at least one school zone. In Ohio that means 20 mph. I work in the schools and I have a child in school. I can't remember what I used to do before my child, maybe sneak through, maybe I obeyed the speed limit. I pulled out of our work parking lot behind another co-worker. She works with pre-school children. I followed her up the road to where she charged through the school zone almost hitting a child on a bicycle. I noticed because she went way left of center to go around him. He was in the cross walk. There was also a crossing guard on his way to the middle of the cross walk holding up his STOP sign. Okay.

This reminded me of another incident. My brother is a volunteer fireman in a small town. He told me a story about another fireman. I suppose when a fireman gets a call or hears that siren a rush of adrenalin so strong courses through their veins that it catapults them into emergency mode. This enables the average human to take certain risks that helps mankind. I am thankful for this calling that they have. (Such as the ones who came to the aid of their fellow man in the 9-11 disaster).

However, this particular fireman found the desire to "rush" to the fire department so great that he sped through a school crossing cross walk. The crossing guard reported him and he was suspended for two days from the department. He became angry and quit. Nobody took his side. Most of the department members have small children that could have been crossing the street during that time.

I can imagine that once in a while your mind can be distracted and you make a mistake. I believe this to have happened to my co-worker today. At least I hope so. The second incident, I knew the guy and he really thought himself above the law. Hence his reaction to being punished. A little common sense goes a long way.

Speaking of thinking yourself as being "above the law":

Here in Ohio, it is illegal to make a U-Turn on the Interstate. The areas are for emergency vehicles only and are marked as such. There is a confusing off ramp near my town that if you miss it or get confused, you must travel 10 miles to the next off ramp. There is, however, a U-Turn area right past the confusing off ramp. A co-worker and I were in the company van and passed this area. I told her when I first started, I missed the exit and had to go all the way to the next exit to get back around. I told her that another co-worker had told me that they did the same, but turned around illegally. I said "They must think that they are ABOVE the law."

She was quiet for a second and said that she had done the same thing.

Whoops.