monogodo

A member of an internet cycling forum I frequent was killed the other day by a teenager who was text-messaging on his cell phone instead of paying attention to the road. The 17-year old driver will most likely face misdemeanor charges with a maximum 1-year jail term as punishment.

You're probably wondering how the title of this post relates to the story. Well, the death part is obvious. The asshole part, you probably assume, is in reference to the driver. Well, it's not. The cyclist who was killed was, in my opinion, an asshole. He rarely ever posted anything positive on the forum. He was rude to most of the members, and would never admit he was wrong about anything, even when faced with incontrovertable proof. I had more than one run-in with him where he gave incomplete information, or was less than helpful in his response to a question.

But that doesn't mean I wished him harm in any way.

I couldn't stand him. I had to make a conscious effort to avoid his posts, just to keep my blood pressure down.

I can't say that I'll miss him now that he's gone.

At the same time, I think it sucks that it happened. I think it sucks that the kid was being stupid and ended a human life. A year in jail doesn't seem like much of a punishment for killing a man, but he'll have to live for the rest of his life with the knowledge that he did just that. I'd be willing to bet that he has nightmares about it until the day he dies, as he should.

Be careful while driving. Keep your eyes open for cyclists. Put the cellphone down. You might hit someone and end up killing them. Yeah, the person may be an asshole, but then again, he may not. I'm sure there were people who liked the guy, I'm just not one of them. I'm sorry for their loss.