The Internet can be a cruel place

[Mariner Fan]

I'll try to make this short.

 

I have a friend who was a co-worker back in the 90's. He is a kind and gentle type of guy who would bend over backwards to help you out if you needed it. Well, I found out that he was paralyzed in an accident while riding his bicycle. He was traveling down a hill and hit a parked car. The car pulled over and stopped due to the new law in Washington State that requires you to not be driving and talking on your cell phone. So the driver did the right thing and Mark hit the car on his bicycle. I know what it's like to go down hill at a high rate of speed on a bike and you tend to look down because your trying to avoid rocks etc. Mark was looking down, hit the back of the parked car, and now is paralyzed. Seems the story should be over and I've said some prayers for Mark and his family.

 

I decided to look on the Internet to see if anything was written about it and found a Corvette forum talking about it. He was called every kind of idiot there was and beyond.

 

I guess we don't think about how our words can hurt folks sometimes. He's a friend of mine and it was an accident.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/off-topic/2641469-new-cell-phone-law-leads-to-serious-bicyclist-injury.html

[oldgoat]

my prayers go out to you and your friend and his family.

looks like these pepole didnt know the extent of his injury. and just wanted to shoot off there mouths.

[Yammer Dan]

Will include him in our prayers. You just got to consider the source with some lowlifes.

[saddlebum]

Very sorry to hear about your friend and yes the internet can be full of heartless self rightous people. The same people who probably narrowly escaped the same or samiliar fate on many occasions themselves. They usually like to chalk it down to personal skill and ability when 9 times out of 10 it was just shear luck, just as it was bad luck that the car happen to be where it was when it was. He may well have been at fault, but are we not all guilty of doing something dumb or at the wrong time now and again but just happen to be plain lucky for not having to pay such a dear price for a moments indiscretion. Prayers sent in hopes that all is not lost and he may still pull through.

Edited October 28, 2010 by saddlebum

[ThomWill]

First, I am very sorry about your friend and hope, with the others, that he stages a miracle recovery.

 

On the cruelty note, I am sure that many of those folks are not really bad people. The internet it just a stand-in for the old middle and high-school lunch table. Probably each of us is guilty of saying or writing something (out of hand even) that was or could have been hurtful to someone. All the internet has done for us is make that searchable, and semi-permanent.

 

Makes re-reading and taking a breath before one hits the continue or submit button a good idea.

[eazyduzzit]

I was riding the Blue Ridge PKWY with some friends a few weeks ago and we passed several guys on bicycles. The bicyclists were following all traffic laws and weren't hurting anyone. We stopped a couple of miles later to rest for a few minutes, and one of the ladies with us out of the blue started talking about how stupid they were for being on the road.

From what I could gather, she was pissed off that they even existed.

I don't understand why people are so ignorant.

[Trader]

How many times have we discussed those "dumb cager" when bikes are involved.

It often is a 2 way street!

[Rick Haywood]

I was riding the Blue Ridge PKWY with some friends a few weeks ago and we passed several guys on bicycles. The bicyclists were following all traffic laws and weren't hurting anyone. We stopped a couple of miles later to rest for a few minutes, and one of the ladies with us out of the blue started talking about how stupid they were for being on the road.

From what I could gather, she was pissed off that they even existed.

I don't understand why people are so ignorant.

 

 

It's called prejudice and we live with it in some form everyday

[slick97spirit]

How many times have we discussed those "dumb cager" when bikes are involved.

It often is a 2 way street!

 

 

I was thinking the same thing. Every time a motorcyclist gets hit, we sound the same or worse than the folks on that thread.

[91nwl]

The internet ain't the problem, it's just the enabler.

[Yammer Dan]

How many times have we discussed those "dumb cager" when bikes are involved.

It often is a 2 way street!

 

 

OUCH!!! But there are some smart cagers....

[LilBeaver]

I was thinking the same thing. Every time a motorcyclist gets hit, we sound the same or worse than the folks on that thread.