On Sorrow: The Driver

I found out yesterday about this horrible accident that occurred in my home town on Tuesday night. You can read about it here.

Things like this happen all the time, I know.

It’s like two sides of a tragic coin:

The Driver: One minute, you’re driving along thinking about your day, maybe singing to a song on the radio, or talking to whomever is in your car, and the next minute…your life is forever altered.

The Victim: One minute, you’re walking/riding/skating along thinking about your day, maybe singing to a song on your Ipod, or talking to some friends, and the next minute…your life is gone.

Both the driver’s and victim’s families will never be the same.

EVER.

And I’ve been thinking about this, and wondering what I would do if I was in either situation.

But what has really been haunting me today is not if I was the victim, but if I was the driver.

What if I was the one to accidentally take a life?

How do you recover from something like that? Do you recover? Should you?

I’ve had deaths in my family, and they are always hard to adjust to. And I have marveled at the way the plan of salvation has brought comfort, and how the atonement has soothed my soul.

But, I have never thought on how these things (plan of salvation/atonement) would help not only if I suffered a loss, but if I caused one.

And this is what I’ve been pondering: What other layers of these principles have I not delved into because I’ve not thought about it before?

I feel this question is something we have to ask about every aspect of the gospel. If you don’t ask, you don’t receive, right? That’s why we keep going over the same things in church. It’s to help us ask deeper questions, not to think “This is boring. I’ve heard this a million times!”

The questions “How would I turn to the atonement? How would the Savior heal me and my family? How would the plan of salvation help me? How would these principles help the family of the one that I’ve killed? How would I help them know of these precepts?” kept running through my mind last night. And I’ve felt a deep sorrow today.

You see, I know the driver of the car in this accident. I know his wife who was sitting next to him while they were on their way to help an elderly woman in their ward. I’ve known their family my whole life. They’re good people. Helpful people. Kind people.

And my heart is breaking for them, just as my heart rends for the family who lost their son. And it is times like this that I am grateful to know what I know and believe what I believe.

Without an understanding of the plan of salvation, how could this be rectified?

Without belief in Christ, where would I turn?

If I was the driver, how would I find peace in the gospel?