Seeing a dead man in the flesh after meeting a violent end sets a man to thinking. About all sorts of stuff.
On the road 5 miles out of town on the Caribbean coast of Honduras lay the body of a dead man, the odometer read 195 miles. This highway was the best I had driven in nearly a year of travel through Mexico and Central America, it was wide, smooth and safe. In the opposite lane were a pair of powdery fresh, deeply dark skid marks with a 65+ year old man laying face down with his hands pulled up to his chest. Blood ran from his head down the slope towards my lane. It was wet and visibly moving. After slowly passing the scene we grew silent. There were just a couple people standing around and an old woman stood over him in curious posture.
In silence I thought, I hope he did everything he wanted to do today.
By odometer reading 205 my travel partner and I were talking again. This time about traffic laws in our respective countries -was it legal to drive barefoot in Australia or the United States?
Life is delicate and often inane.
David
Danli, Honduras
3 comments:
Dear David,
This experience sound awfull. Did you have any idea how this old man met his end? it seems troubling to see such a thing. Driving out of Honduras -or at least trying to- i witnessed an accident involving a pickup and a biker. We could see nothing more than the two shoes of the biker, laying scattered on the ground. (Luckiy) the rest of the scene was witheld from our eyes by the truck.
Marjo
I see now, he got hit by a car. At least it wasn't a result of the ongoing violence in the country. More people have died because of the political unrest than people are made to believe...
M
Marjo,
It was unpleasant in one way and in another not at all. Death is reaffirming for the living and is a stark reminder to the able footed to ask themselves, "Did I do everything I wanted to do today?"
It appeared that he was hit by a car and that he may have been riding a bicycle, although the vehicle was no longer there.
David
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