This morning while I was returning back drivng from school
By Bala
@balasri (26537)
India
November 6, 2008 7:47am CST
after leaving my girl at her class room carefully with her book bag, I saw a class note book on the road left dropped by some kid.Cars were running at break neck speed and no one cared to stop and have a second look at it.It also got run over by a couple of cars and was about to be shredded in to pieces.I was just gazing this scene and driving away helpless.The face of that unknown child to whom that note book belongs, and her plight in the class and at home is stil haunting me.It was just like seeing a cruel accident or worse that it.
5 people like this
18 responses
@SViswan (12051)
• India
8 Nov 08
If it was a main road with heavy traffic, I would have done the same as you...only because I'm scared of traffic (I'm scared to cross the road in India). Or else, I would have tried to retrieve the book and return it to it's owner.
But think about it from a driver's viewpoint....on the main road if you were driving with a lot of cars, would you stop to check a notebook...that could cause an accident which is much worse than losing a book.It might be too late to stop when the driver realizes it is a child's notebook.
1 person likes this
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
7 Nov 08
We live in a busy world. Everyone is in hurry and hence we either tend to ignore so many things or fail to notice so many insignificant things because our minds are preoccuppied with so many worries and cares. In fact even the owner of the notebook failed to notice as well that she lost her notebook or could the owner really threw that stuff just like that because she does not need anymore?
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
7 Nov 08
yeah it was sad thinking that a kid's notebook is gone and have to rewrite all over again the notes..buts i guess its better than the notebook that was been run over than the kid itselft..isnt not? 
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
7 Nov 08
Reminds me of the time I saw a cat on the side of the freeway, had been hit but was still alive. We weren't able to stop and my husband convinced me from the way it was moving its back had to be broken and we couldn't do anything about it. He was probably right and it would have been really dangerous to stop there but I still feel bad about it.
1 person likes this
@Roseo8 (2947)
• India
7 Nov 08
.Gone are the days when passer by's picked up a thing you dropped and came running to hand it over to you.....Now everybody is busy and indifferent to such things.....And I can understand your helplessness Bala,at watching the book being run over by vehicles,and getting destroyed in the process..
I know how difficult it is to find a parking place for your vehicle,locking it and then crossing the road ,after manipulating the traffic going at breakneck speed,to save the book which is indeed a herculean task,and if at all you do make the effort to save the book,it would be too late,and it will not be worth all the effort you put in to retrieve it........So the only option left is to give in to our helplessness,and push the incident to the back of the mind,and carry on.......This is life,Bala.....
.Now everybody is busy and indifferent to such things.....And I can understand your helplessness Bala,at watching the book being run over by vehicles,and getting destroyed in the process..
I know how difficult it is to find a parking place for your vehicle,locking it and then crossing the road ,after manipulating the traffic going at breakneck speed,to save the book which is indeed a herculean task,and if at all you do make the effort to save the book,it would be too late,and it will not be worth all the effort you put in to retrieve it........So the only option left is to give in to our helplessness,and push the incident to the back of the mind,and carry on.......This is life,Bala.....1 person likes this
@aaNNffeedd (23)
• United States
7 Nov 08
why do you care about the notebook of the child lol
1 person likes this
@alokn99 (5717)
• India
6 Nov 08
Had it been a wallet Bala. Can you imagine the number of people who would have stopped. The selective ignorance of thinking oh' its a notebook afterall. It's sad indeed that people did not care for it. I can only imagine what that girl must be going through not knowing where the book is.
1 person likes this
@cupid74 (11388)
• Pakistan
8 Nov 08
Hi Bala
nice observation and really very thoughtfull too, We are all running short of time, and vey are becoming so ruthless. We can see such things and say sorry but we wont stop to pick it up and made and effort to drop at nearest school
And its really nice that u atleast think of it and feel sad.
u know bala jee. i have seen people moving fast, even if its accident happened on road, and some one need help.its Sad, Really sad.
Take care
@littleowl (7157)
•
6 Nov 08
Aww I expect the child's teacher wweren't very happy with them for losing their book either..that is a great shame still maybe someone might of found it and picked it up before it got too mushed up...littleowl
1 person likes this
@leenie50 (3992)
• United States
6 Nov 08
balasri,
Maybe that notebook was empty. Maybe it just been bought for future use. You could worry about the person who lost it or just let it go, knowing that there was nothing that could be done. Why risk your life for something that might have had no value at all?
Words can always be rewritten. Don't worry!!
leenie
1 person likes this
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
6 Nov 08
Hi balsasri,
If you felt like this why don't you go pick it up when its quieter and see if it had an address or take it to the school? it might help feeling like this.
Tamara
1 person likes this
@balasri (26537)
• India
7 Nov 08
That's a good question.It was there in the middle of the road where cars are racing like hell.Had I stopped it would have created a pile of mangled cars behind me including one.By the condition of that note book it would have been lying there before the traffic built up.I still feel very bad that I was helpless as I have said in my discussion itself.
Usually I never pass the buck and find fault with others.I amt a Parents teachers association active member in the school.And I volunteered to regulate the traffic in side the school parking lot for 30 minutes daily in the morning.I usher the young ones holding their fingers to their class weaving through the traffic,Wherever there is a traffic snarl I am the first person to get out of my car and regulate the traffic in the junctions with my prowess at the school.It was my inability to retrieve that notebook made this discussion.
@sujithakripesh (425)
• India
6 Nov 08
So good of you that you have cared so much about that book and about whoever that book belongs to....thats really pathetic condition even I have seen such kind of situations a lot..but usually nobody try to do that...
@aseretdd (13730)
• Philippines
8 Nov 08
That is just so sad... i wonder what the important things are in that notebook... i can just imagine the how the girl looked and how she felt as she witnessed what happened... i just hope her teacher would understand if incase her homework was written there...
@jonesy123 (3948)
• United States
6 Nov 08
I don't think too many people even saw it. In my experience in the morning rush hour, people are too self-absorbed to even pay attention to stuff like that. If it registers and already looks battered, nobody will stop. If it is the traffic situation you describe it's even dangerous just to slow down much less to stop and go venture on the road to retrieve the notebook.
Yes, I feel sorry for the child who lost the notebook. But it will also learn an important lesson to better take care of his or her stuff or to suffer the consequences. It's just one of those things kids sometimes have to learn the hard way.
