Nothing to see here

Move along

The traffic was backed up.

We were going to be late.

I was feeling impatient until we crested the hill.

On the other side, there was an ambulance, fire trucks and police.

Helpful people - likely with first aid experience had stopped as well.

I could see activity around one of the wrecked cars. Given where we were, whatever we were was approaching likely wasn’t a pretty sight to behold.

“Don’t look at it bud,” I warned my son, “There’s nothing worth seeing there.”

I looked (of course).

Unable to listen to my own advice (of course) I looked and saw things I wish I did not see.

It wasn’t that dramatic. There was broken glass and blood and medical teams and people in pain. From what we could tell people were alive and soon to be good customers for rehab therapists.

We both looked. We both knew that we were not going to stop and help.

We both knew that there was nothing that we could do.

And we both looked.

It made our stomachs churn.

Our rubbernecking at human suffering merely created more suffering …