Freckles was driving. We were on the I-285 bypass, around Atlanta, and it was raining. By raining, I mean a torrential downpour. We got about halfway around Atlanta, and the rain slowed to a sprinkle, the downpour having just moved through there. The interstate was closed with police directing us off an exit. The detour was just to get off and right back on. The off ramp was long and parallel to the interstate.

I looked over to see what happened, and there was an 18 wheeler sideways with a car under the trailer. I started to grab my phone to take a picture and stopped cold. There were white bed sheets with something under them on the road. That was sobering, and I was a little angry with myself for wanting to take a photo of someone’s misfortune and as it turned out, the ultimate misfortune.

Another day I was driving and Freckles was in the passengers seat. There was a thick column of smoke a couple of miles ahead of us. I told Freckles to grab the phone and video what I guessed was a truck on fire. I was right and she got the video. I thought I would post that later because it was a raging fire, so cool! Well I forgot about it and a few days later came across the video on my phone. I just thought, I wonder if there’s a news story about it? There was a news story and what I thought was a “cool fire”, was in reality an occupied truck on fire. There were fire trucks etc., but it was too late.

I don’t take pictures or videos of these things anymore, and I’m glad I have never shared the couple I had. If I can’t help, I stay out of the way.

It’s an amazing time of technology and information sharing. But it’s also a scary thought that anybody, anywhere, can capture images and share them with the world in a couple of minutes. In my case, it felt like I was becoming desensitized to what is happening, or just happened to a fellow human being. I’m glad I realized it early on and corrected my thinking.

It really is just a split second of distraction that causes these tragedies. The one not paying attention, and the one who is. I can tell you from my vantage point (higher in a truck), I see car after car, truck after truck, on their phone or tablet all day every day. It is very difficult to not use these things on long drives, but it is worth it to fight the urge.