IN MEMORIAM: GAGE SEALANDER

Young and innocent, an eleven-year-old boy made a dumb move and turned the small town of Burney, California, upside down.  He was tooling along on his skateboard on the main street of town and ran into the side of an 18-wheeler.  Two physical objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.  I could say the 18-wheeler won and the lad lost, but the driver of the 18-wheeler is also a loser.  I cannot imagine his agony.  

Gage Sealander did have a chance.  He didn't need to be there on Main Street riding his skateboard in evening traffic.  He didn't have to plow into the side of an 18-wheeler, but he did.  Did he know better?  Knowing his parents, I'm sure he did. 

A couple of years ago, I came off of Main Street into the parking lot of the VFW Hall and almost ran over two young boys on skateboards.  One was Gage's friend and the other one could have been Gage, I do not know.  But, I stopped and told them if they were going to ride their skateboards, to stay off of driveways and entryways.  Traffic comes off the highway at 30 miles an hour, sometimes more.  They both continued to skateboard around town, but I never saw them in that driveway again.  

Kids at that age don't absorb lessons from adults unless they are repeated, repeated and repeated.  And that's my lesson here.  Kids at that age are still young, innocent and exploring their territorial bounds.  We have to be after them constantly, in a loving way of course, but we cannot let our guards down for even one split second... because that's all it takes for tragedy to strike. 

I don't blame the parents; I don't blame the truck driver; I don't blame the kid.  What a tragic ending to a beautiful spring day.  

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.