[RBS] Nine Days tragedy averted

[d33656]

B'chasdei HKB"H the life of a young child was spared yesterday here in RBSA and I am a witness because I was the driver of the car with which the bicycle collided.  Miracles like this are truly amazing, but how much more so during the nine days when so many tragedies have occurred, and occur each year.  This potential tragedy however, is one that could have been prevented and one that WE need to learn from, and take action to prevent.  This applies much more to us Anglos who come from countries where riding a bicycle without a helmet is illegal and unacceptable.  Yesterday evening, I was driving up Ayalon and between Refaim and Dolev, as I was passing a parked van, a young boy (6 ½) on a large bicycle, darted out into the path of my car from in front of the parked van.  I had a split second to react and it was HKB"H who stopped the car before any serious damage was done to the child or his bicycle.  The child was not wearing a helmet and was driving his bicycle recklessly, and as was obvious from his mother's reaction, this is not the first time he has done such a thing.  Could there be a greater sign for any of us that we need to be parents and teach our children and the children of our neighborhood what is proper?  Driving across the path of moving cars is not acceptable at any level.  Not wearing a helmet when riding a bicycle is also not acceptable.  A 6 year old who is not responsible should not have a bicycle at all and should not be out and about unsupervised.  I beseech each of you to make sure that your child is riding their bicycle in an appropriate location and appropriately and wearing a helmet at ALL times.  I ask anyone and everyone who has the Hebrew skills, to please translate this and post it on the Hebrew sites and forward it to your Israeli friends.  I believe that HKB"H spared the life of this child and spared his family and mine from much grief so that we would all learn from this incident and CHANGE our behavior.  We can't blame the children as they haven't been taught properly.  We can (and HKB"H can) blame the parents because we have not taught our children or our neighbors what is proper behavior.  It's time we all took our responsibilities seriously and took action.  B'soros Tovos.  I do want to pay a special Hakarat Hatov to the men of Hatzoloh who were there Kheref Ayin and took unbelievable care of this child and his parents and me – Hashem Yishalem S'charchem.

Zvi Friedman