Paramedic’s public letter to a potential murderer

By Aryeh Myers

A few days ago, on a very public forum, I accused a fellow parent at my children‘s school of attempted murder.

I did not shy away from using the term, I did not hide behind anonymity, I did not choose an eye-to-eye meeting away from the public gaze — the public needed to read this. I most certainly did not conceal my anger.

“To the mother who drove into the school parking lot a few minutes ago:

You – who followed the law by wearing a seat belt;

You – who drove slowly and took extra care with the children who were crossing the street;

True – this isn‘t a particularly delicate way of saying this, but perhaps this is what will help the message finally get through:

You, yes you – you‘re a potential murderer.

Why? Because your child, the one next to you in the front passenger seat, the unrestrained, crouched, perhaps even standing, but certainly not seated child, the child with her head resting on the front windshield, your child who, even in the most minor of collisions would have been seriously injured at the very least, or killed outright at the very worst. That would make you a murderer.

Even if the journey was a short one, there can be no excuse for the fact that your child was unrestrained. You clearly understand the importance of the seat belt. After all, yours was in place. Imagine, just for a moment, that the worst had actually happened. What excuse, what reason could you have found that could have justified this in your mind?

I‘ll make this easy for you — there is none. No excuse in the world. Not the short distance, not the whining child, not the low speed. None.

As a paramedic, I am fed up of seeing the results of a few moments of negligence. I am fed up of picking up the pieces strewn across the road after a few minutes of irresponsibility.”

I really am fed up. The “red mist” that falls in front of my eyes never falls heavier than when I witness this kind of behavior by parents. I‘ve heard all the excuses. I‘ve seen the results. And I‘d rather accuse someone publicly of attempted murder, than witness their private grief after the fact.