A lesson learned

In driving my son back from his job at Wal-Mart around 7:30 am this morning, I was witness to just how quickly life can change as well as to why it is also so important to be a vigilant driver. As we were headed toward Salem, Arkansas on Hwy 62-412 I saw a deer crossing the road, nothing out of the ordinary there happens almost every day here. However how the next few seconds played out is what is important. Unknown to me at the time it was not a lone deer but a small herd, I saw three quite clearly, the one that passed in front of us and then two more.

This left little time for anyone to react and when I saw a motorcyclist driving from the other direction hit one of the deer. Upon impact the deer exploded and for a brief second it was much like watching an explosion on a movie screen, parts of deer whizzed past us and simultaneously the motorcycle rider went down as the bike spun and slide in the dead center of the road. The bike still in a spin when he pulled himself free stood straight up and busied himself to the ditch that was on the side of the road that I was on, he laid down in the ditch face down, head facing the road in what I can only imagine was kissing the earth or a prayer of gratitude to have walked away.

I think the other deer maybe have been hit as well; it is hard to say as I was so focused on the event playing out in front of me and sometimes your mind tries to fill in the blanks, so I would rather not say if I really saw the third one get killed. One has to understand how traumatic it was at the moment. The whole event took place in seconds.

Since there were so many people on screen I left and continued onward towards home, traumatized and shaken up but happy to have been alive and no more involved then I had already been. The police and ambulance rushed passed us I can only offer my prayers for all those who were involved and a sublime word of warning if you think you can look away from the road even for a split second you are wrong. It only took a split second for all this to happen and had I not already been engaged in stopping for the one deer, I would have most likely been a part of the mess.

After the event, I was glad that I had already been slowing to a stop. I was glad that I had not been distracted by a cell phone or the radio and that we were safe. Upon arriving home I found blood splatter on the chrome of the bumper and one small spot of the deer on my windshield a reminder of how dangerous life can truly be.

Shekhinah Raziel Golden-Dove Davis