2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #208 "IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE"

      Recently I mediated a case in which two medical professionals who did not know each other got involved in what can only be called an ego fight while driving their cars on a road as it merged from two lanes into one.  And neither would yield to the other, which resulted in one of their cars crossing the double center line into oncoming traffic, obliterating an oncoming car and killing the two men inside it.  In the blink of an eye.  Liberty allows us mostly to go where we want, do what we want and be what we want.  But we responsible human beings would all be well advised to stop for a moment of reflection and cognizantly determine that when something happens to us, even in the blink of an eye, we will keep control of ourselves.  I know that these two men, who are otherwise good citizens and respected in their professions, wish they had made such a determination and lived up to it.  But for them it is too late.  So two innocent people died and the lives of the family members of each of the four participants are changed forever.  (And this incident will always affect me as well.)

Author and entrepreneur Laura Fenamore once said that “We can control how we respond to things we can’t control.”  And she is right.  Let’s all strive to control how we respond, even in challenging and unforeseeable stressful situations.  Someone cuts us off on the highway, insults us in a restaurant, or bumps into us while walking in a shopping mall, keep control.  Set the example for the way good and responsible people should respond – every time.  And show that to our children – by example and teaching.  We each have the Liberty to do that.  And, who knows, maybe that will keep us and our families from situations of despair and loss in the future.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Quote for the week: “Today was a great day.  I sold my condo for $1.2 million in cash – until I remembered that I was only leasing it.”

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