facebook for cars? a mothers perspective

recently i was involved in a facebook discussion about the tiny stick man families that people post on their rear windows.
i was surprised at how many people are offended by these
someone even went so far as to say ugh puke...

i was shocked and bewildered

and i started thinking about why it bothered me so much, why i was thinking about these over the top reactions

and i suppose my own over reaction as well

when i realised we often react not to someone else, but to what we have hidden deep in our own hearts

when my son was 17 months old he took his fathers medication, to be honest he would most certainly have died had his 3 year old sister not come running to mommy telling me not just that he took it. but what exact pill he had taken.

we were in the ambulance on the way to the children's hospital, he was bright red, with a fever rising by the moment, limp in my arms except for the seizures...

and i could see perfectly out the back window, i could see the faces of the drivers
i could see there frustration ~ we were in their way
i watched as they tried to veer around us
i watched as they scowled
i saw them swearing...   they were going to be late and that was my fault

and i remember looking down at my tiny littleman and knowing there was a very real chance he would slip away. torn from my life.  right there. in that hot. cramped. ambulance.

surrounded by strangers

who did not care,
whose only thought was that they wished they were in front of us

and i thought to myself
i wish they could see
i wish they could see what this ambulance carried
i wish they could see my baby limp like a rag doll in his mamas arms
i wish they could see the fear in his mamas eyes
i wish they could see the pain, the moments that might be his last

maybe they would soften their hearts if they knew our story
maybe getting to work, or the spa, or home for lunch,
late
is not the worst thing that could happen

and my mind was changed forever in those scary moments

to me a car is not just an obstacle
it carries life...
and a sticker of a stick family reminds me that someones whole world is riding in that car
it doesn't bother me
it doesn't entertain me
it doesn't tell me their political views

but it does tell me their world view
one dad one mom one girl two boys and two dogs
their whole world

and i can understand that world
and i can respect that
and i can appreciate that
i can even be a couple minutes late...   
for that

everyone has a story
we just tell it in diffrent ways