Dear Friend,

I have often said, often felt that my uniqueness gives me no true measure of the rest of humanity. My outlook, my philosophies, my reactions are all so very different from the "respectable norm" that I sometimes doubt my perspective. In this, however, I have no doubt - it is wrong to think that others have no value simply because they have no relevence, no direct bearing in our personal lives.

I admit that I am writing this letter in anger, in utter disbelief. I concede that I am writing in reaction to that which I do not understand, can not comprehend. I seek only to consolidate my thoughts and emotions here, into a form more manageable than the chaotic turmoil currently churning within me.

Tonight, I spent time with another. We had a great evening, we had fun together. Until the inexplicable happened. Only seconds behind a major accident involving an 18-wheeler and a Hyundai, he simply drove by with no hesitation, no thought to stopping and offering to help. I was, I am appalled that he thought this was a proper course of action but he is an adult and has every right to make that decision for himself. In this case, however, he also made that decision for me.

I am left with the angst of a visual image of the accident in my mind's eye. I am left with the worry that I might have possessed the tools (my CPR knowledge, my cell phone, my common sense in an emergency) to have made some difference. I am left wondering if even my call to 911 was effective since we had not slowed enough to know at which exit the accident occured or if anyone was hurt and an ambulance was needed. I was simply given no chance, no choice to render aid.

How is that a person can drive by an accident scene as if it were nothing more than a billboard for breakfast cereal? Is the willingness to extend aid not inherent in everyone? I do not understand. I do not think I want to understand, to accept that one could be so unfeeling, so unemotional about such a situation. I just hope that, if fate should put me in harm's way, my life will not depend on him.

Bn.