Reacting to terror...

This weekend my wife and I experienced a small taste of terror while playing tennis at a local park.

Two men began arguing at a nearby shelter in the park. The agrument erupted into a fight. It became apparent to us that the situation could escalate. As a result of a series of 911 calls by those at the park, the police arrived within minutes.

The man instigating the fight jumped into his car just seconds before the police arrived. The man screeched out of the parking lot in his old car. He raced his car over a grassy knoll and sped recklessly out of the park. The sound of the wild man's screeching tires still ring in my ears. It was a horrible sound. We kept waiting to hear a crash as the man's car collided into another car on the roadway. Fortunately, it did not.

The incident happened so suddenly it made our hearts race nearly as fast as the mad man's car. We were relieved that no one was hurt. We kept thinking of the tragedy that could have occurred if children were playing on the nearby grassy knoll.

What could cause a man to do such a thing? How could he allow himself to lose control of himself and put others' lives at risk in this way? As I reflect on the situation, the word "desperation" keeps surfacing in my consciousness. The incident also reminds me that people who think so little of themselves have little to no regard for others.

We are fortunate that the ugly side of life visits us so infrequently. Some are not so lucky as we read stories daily in the newspaper of horrid tragedies caused by human recklessness.

Moments like this are stark reminders of how suddenly the world can change.