Geekman's World: They got him

They got him, the guy who killed JP. And word behind the scenes is that it'll stick.

Whatever happens to that bastard now is too good for him.

When a tragedy like this happens, I think it's very easy to take in the readily available pieces of information, 2 good hearted people dead at the hands of a drunken coward who fled the scene, and dismiss the notion that anything will become of it. It's a hard thing, but it's actually the right thing to do. The purpetrator is missing, hiding even. Don't pay him any mind, he's not worth your time. Spend your time instead healing the wounds of the victims. It's the right thing to do.

I also think it's easy to forget that there are people working behind the scenes, working to try to make things right, to prevent this from happening again. To those individuals, I say Thank You. You make the world a better place.

I think, given the time since the incident, it's very easy to fall into anger. The wounds have closed a little, we've been learning to move on. But now, the emergence of suspects and arrests threatens to reopen those wounds. What's important here is to maintain control.

These individuals made mistakes. Lots of them. Big ones. Above all, they made the mistake of losing control. They made the mistake of drinking to excess. They made the mistake of getting behind the wheel of a performance sports SUV while intoxicated. When confonted with an oppurtunity to come clean, they made the mistake of running from police officers. They made the mistake of speeding beyond the realms of control, through a busy downtown corridor packed with innocent souls. Then they made the biggest mistake of all. Trying to outrun fear, trying to outrun mistakes, trying to regain control by blindly racing through a densly populated urban area, they allowed their lack of control to strike down two lives. Again, they ran from their fear. Again, they hid from their mistakes. They had ample time to come forward, but they did not.

These individuals are clearly in no control of their own lives. What's important here is learn from their mistakes. Drinking and driving leads to death. It's that simple. If you read the CBC article, it states that 2 suspects were arrested. To me, that implies that there was a passenger in the vehicle. If so, this individual is just as guilty as the driver for not grabbing the keys, for not calling a cab, for not telling his "friend" not to drive (I use quotations around the word "friend" because in the coming days, that word will soon be replaced with "accomplice").

The right thing to do now is to allow those behind the scenes individuals to come forward, to make sure that the mistakes of these individuals never hurt anyone else again.

Though in this instance it's not just a one time bad call, yes, drinking and driving do not mix, but this man has other charges against him that show his value for human beings and laws is lower than that of the standard person. So, there are some more mistakes that could me added to that already hefty list.

There are some situations where I can't simply forgive the flaws of one's humanity, as it were.

JP Larkin was a human being. Better than that, he was a decent human being, a kind person, a hard worker. Compare that to the person (and his apparent passenger) who had ten months to 'fess up to this horrible crime, and didn't. As far as I'm concerned, they can go straight to hell.

I'm hereby taking this opportunity to be a complete hypocrite to some of my values regarding justice. I will respect a great deal of people with differing backgrounds, professions, political opinions, religions, beliefs... whatever. But I refuse to respect and even acknowledge the humanity of someone capable of snuffing out the lives of two good people and hurting so many in the process.

If someone can be so careless, so callous, so GUTLESS, and still be able to live with themselves, then they are undeserving of the basic respect I afford to human beings.