"In A Stranger's Hands"

Let me begin this by saying, I transport my children to and from school each day. Yesterday morning soon after I dropped my children off at school, I came to an intersection where I saw a large yellow school bus at the intersection facing me headed in the opposite direction. Nothing odd about it, there had to be hundreds of yellow school buses ripping around the city the day at that time. While we sat facing one another at the intersection, I noticed the driver was smiling and laughing. There were children on the school bus, so I figured the driver’s jovial expressions and spirit was due to something one of the children said to her. Maybe there was a 13-year old on the bus sitting not three rows behind the driver who said something teenagers usually say, which would cause us to laugh. Maybe she thought about the recent Presidential Debate and laughed at how the most important thing America got from the debate, itself, was that Gov. Romney is not a fan of Big Bird or the PBS Channel. I’m not sure, but now I was invested in why she was so happy.

Then as my truck and her school bus began moving through the intersection, I noticed she had one hand, her left hand on the steering wheel of the large school yellow bus and her right hand up against her right ear holding her cell phone. With children on her bus during morning rush hour, when she should be focused on maneuvering that large yellow school bus through intersections and traffic, the driver of this large yellow school bus was on her cell phone laughing and not nearly as dedicated to the safety of the children on her bus or the citizens in other vehicles around her. As our vehicles crossed, my heart tightened. This was horrifying to see. I looked in my side rear-view mirror and watched as the yellow school bus vanished down the traffic filled street. How easily could that recklessness have caused a crash, I thought to myself. The driver’s logic surely would have been how she was careful and how I was blowing it out of proportion.

When I reached my house, I began thinking about the many young children who have suffered and even died due to the reckless behaviors of those who we, parents, entrust with our children’s safety and well-being. Here in Milwaukee several children have died in daycare vans due to freezing weather or heat exhaustion when the drivers have forgotten to check the vehicles and left the child(ren) in the vehicle to meet their untimely end.

I guess this is my plea… Parents, you have done your upmost best to prepare your children for success in their academic careers. Be mindful of those you have around your most precious and valued little ones. No one cares about your children more than you.

Please join me and be grateful, we didn't hear about a large yellow school bus crashing and injuring or killing several children yesterday on the news. I guess the bus driver was lucky... this time!!