Sarah

It makes me mad when someone opens their mouth and says something, without checking facts, and ends up hurting people in the end. What makes me even more mad is the fact that they make assumptions that are not true, and end up making a fool of themselves.

Such is the case here. Sarah Minxx was killed in a car accident last Wednesday, August 27th. Sarah was a 16 year old, homeschooled, christian girl. Since she was homeschooled, she did not have the usual schedule for school. She left that morning to go to work with a friend of hers. She was driving a Ford Mustang, and made a left turn from a small country road to a busy highway and was broadsided by a guy in a AT&T truck who did not have time to react. The impact killed her immediately and critically injured her friend.

We know Sarah and her family through my ex husband's brother, his wife and my ex husband. They knew Sarah's mother, Gerri Jean, from when they were in high school. They have continued to be friends through all of these years. I personally have had limited contact with the Minxx's simply because I really haven't had the opportunity to visit with them. But I do know that they were a strong, Christian family who had homeschooled their three kids. Sarah's sister, Amanda, is about 6 months younger than Corinne, and I remember when Sarah was born.

A couple of months ago, right after we moved in, Amanda and her friends had planned to come to Houston for a visit. At the time they made the plans, the house was vacant. Then we moved in. I told my ex that they were still welcome, so they came. They spent a week here as our houseguests, and they enjoyed sightseeing Houston. I hadn't seen Amanda in awhile, but I got to know her and her friends a little more during that week. And through Amanda, I got to know Sarah a little through all of her You Tube and MySpace postings.

Imagine my shock when I heard of Sarah's death. It affected Corinne in a profound way, as well. It made me think how in a moment life can be taken from you. Doing something routine as going to work can suddenly become a fatal wreck, and life can be taken away.

What made me mad after Sarah's death is two articles from local newspapers that were written about her death. The articles itself did not make me mad, it was the comment that followed. I had been looking for an article in a newspaper, I guess as confirmation of her death. (Even though I talked to my ex husband, I still needed that confirmation). I ran across these articles. One commenter stated that since she was 16 years old, that she didn't have enough experience behind the wheel, therefore it was her fault that the accident happened. The commenter also made some assumptions that weren't true, and ended up hurting people.

Here are the articles:
Kaufman Herald Article
Terrell Tribune Article

Terrell Native made some pretty big assumptions:
- Why wasn't she at school? She was homeschooled.
- She didn't have the proper training. She had a driver's license, and she obtained that through the proper state requirements.
-She is only 16 and is not experienced enough to drive. This is the one that really got my goat. I am not downplaying the fact that Sarah did pull out on the highway and in front of an oncoming vehicle. But just because she was 16 and did that, that doesn't mean that only teenagers do that kind of judgement calls. It can happen to anyone, at any age. She may have not seen the truck coming. Something may have happened to her car and stalled. Anything could have happened. It can happen to me, you, or even Terrell Native.

As you can see in the comments, I wasn't the only one who felt this way. It made me mad to think that someone was very quick to judge someone without knowing all of the facts. I wanted to set this person straight. Actually, what I wanted to do was reach through the internet and shake this person and tell them "Look, you don't know everything, and stop making comments that are hurting people." Ask Corinne. I was infuriated. I just couldn't believe that someone would leave such hurtful comments while the Minxx are grieving their daughter's death.

One of the comments that was left was that maybe this will wake up some people enough to do a petition to have a stoplight at that intersection. Apparently, Sarah's accident wasn't the only accident of that kind at that intersection. Maybe her death will inspire someone to have a stoplight put in at that intersection. And her death would be something that was God's will. God's will? How can something like this be God's will? If it will save other people's lives, then, yeah, it can be God's will. Yes, we will miss Sarah, but apparently God had other plans for her. I can't wait to see what the fruits of those plans are.

I'll be praying for you Mark, Gerri Jean, Amanda, and Michael.