In the end — with a guy wearing a baseball cap

11.20.16. 5:30am. So, all that was left after 4 hrs. of chaos since a head-on collision next to my home at 37.5 Glenn was a quiet "calm"...and about three Trooper cars (from about 15-20 emergency vehicles, a chopper, etc.) and two firetrucks…w/halogen lights lighting up the highway like day in the clear, deep, dark, 18 degree night including about 6-8 firemen standing in a circle chatting with occasional light laughter. The medivac helicopter had departed two hours ago with one passenger. I thought the worst was over as the clean-up continued. Then, a long yellow colored pick-up w/a cab-over the back pulls up driven by a guy wearing a baseball cap.

For two hours a distraught woman sat on the ground nearby with her knees pulled up to her chest and consoled by two firefighters, sometimes just one. They covered her with a white blanket. Eventually, she was escorted away by two Troopers. The Troopers had to support her from both sides as she walked about 100 yards to vehicle. This was an alcohol-related head-on with the the center line crossed on an icy corner of the Glenn at about 2am. My home is about 150' from the Glenn and my Newfoundlands jumped-up on impact like they do with earthquakes as the house shuttered slighted and I heard an odd "thud." I'd heard it before. We've had about 15 deaths on the 1/2 mile of Glenn next to my home.

Our drunk driving epidemic kills more of us than earthquakes, though.

The firemen broke from their "chat circle" and one gets an ax. Meanwhile, the guy in the pick-up unloaded a gurney with a body bag. One fireman ax-cuts a neat approx. 2' by 3' square in windshield and Jaws-of-Life gets busy on driver's side.

Four firemen hold up a sheet for privacy as one turns to me up by house and yells "please don't take pictures." Earlier a Trooper taking pictures asked me to leave and I told him I was on my property. I stayed, but, put camera in pocket at fireman's request.

A deceased person is pulled from driver's side, body bagged, and laid on gurney behind the sheet. The gurney with "a person" who was 73yrs. of age, but now "deceased," is wheeled to back of pick-up and slid-in by a solo guy wearing a baseball cap. As the pick-up does a three-point turn, I read the sign on driver's side door "Medical Examiner."

During all of the almost 4 hrs. of mayhem, "a deceased person" (with soul-released) was trapped in a pick-up right in front of me. I'm sure the Trooper and fireman who scolded my presence had no idea why I was really there, though, praying the Rosary for the unknown soul(s) now gone. The passenger was helicoptered-out earlier and, since so much time had passed and I didn't realize the driver was still in his seat deceased for 4 hours. I was shocked at what was unfolding.

Life is fragile and we are vulnerable and should all be treated with respect, with our person-hood honored at all times. Respect, prevention, and treatment is needed for those who "fill the hole in their souls" with substances (Scott Peck) long before they do so, and for their victims and families.

In the end, though, we could be a "former" person, soul-released and driven down the highway in the black of the night in the back of a pick-up by a guy wearing a baseball cap.