thefinishline 08/16/10
How Short is Life?
By Aaron M. Little
Andrew Therrien, 22
Zachary Freeman, 24
Brian Wolfin, 27
Anthony Sanchez, 23
Aaron Farkas, 25
Danica Fratzich, 20
Dustin Malson, 24
Unidentified Male, 34
This reads like a list of fallen soldiers from Afghanistan or Iraq that we’ve grown accustom to over the past several years, but it’s not. These eight individuals lost their lives in California’s Mojave desert on Saturday night at an off-road truck race. At one of the jumps on the course, a truck driven by 28-year-old Brett Sloppy careened off the track and into a crowd that was separated from the track by nothing but desert sand.
Andrew Therrien is being hailed as a hero as witnesses claim he pushed several children out of the way before he was struck and killed by the truck. No doubt most of the other victims had little if any time to react. In addition to the eight killed, 12 were injured. Twenty people who went into the weekend probably looking forward to seeing this race have now had their lives changed forever, not to mentioned the hundreds who witnessed and responded to the chaos.
There is fodder for a sermon here and there are probably a handful of “lessons” to be learned from all of this, but all I am struck with are the ages of the victims and the lives that were snuffed out in an instant. It can end quickly and unexpectedly folks; don’t take it for granted. On Saturday, eight people in California left their homes and perhaps parents, spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, maybe even their children...and they will never come home again. They went to go watch a race, to go have a good time and they were killed. Pray for all the families affected by this tragedy.
Andrew Therrien, 22
Zachary Freeman, 24
Brian Wolfin, 27
Anthony Sanchez, 23
Aaron Farkas, 25
Danica Fratzich, 20
Dustin Malson, 24
Unidentified Male, 34
This reads like a list of fallen soldiers from Afghanistan or Iraq that we’ve grown accustom to over the past several years, but it’s not. These eight individuals lost their lives in California’s Mojave desert on Saturday night at an off-road truck race. At one of the jumps on the course, a truck driven by 28-year-old Brett Sloppy careened off the track and into a crowd that was separated from the track by nothing but desert sand.
Andrew Therrien is being hailed as a hero as witnesses claim he pushed several children out of the way before he was struck and killed by the truck. No doubt most of the other victims had little if any time to react. In addition to the eight killed, 12 were injured. Twenty people who went into the weekend probably looking forward to seeing this race have now had their lives changed forever, not to mentioned the hundreds who witnessed and responded to the chaos.
There is fodder for a sermon here and there are probably a handful of “lessons” to be learned from all of this, but all I am struck with are the ages of the victims and the lives that were snuffed out in an instant. It can end quickly and unexpectedly folks; don’t take it for granted. On Saturday, eight people in California left their homes and perhaps parents, spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, maybe even their children...and they will never come home again. They went to go watch a race, to go have a good time and they were killed. Pray for all the families affected by this tragedy.