Unfortunately, there are some drivers who should not be allowed to be behind the steering wheel of a car.
Viral: Dad Sees Something Fall from Sky after Hearing Loud Noise, Realizes It’s 6-Year-Old Son
But, for one reason or another, they were able to slip through the system and hold a valid license.
Whether age had impacted their reflexes or a physical impairment they did not have before has now rendered them incapable of driving safely, it matters not. They should not be on the road.
Stephen O’Donovan was at his home tinkering with his car radio one day when he heard what sounded like a door being shut loudly. Looking up, he saw a silver Ford Focus driving away.
But this was not all he saw. Something looked like it had fallen from the sky, landing on the sidewalk and rolling over twice.
The noise he heard was not a car door, and what he saw fallen from the sky was not some kind of mysterious unidentifiable object. The noise was the sound of Luke, his 6-year-old son, being struck by the car and catapulted through the air, landing on the sidewalk.
Luke, who had been inside playing computer games, left the house to see if a friend was home. He was making his was through the street back to his house when the car slammed into him.
John O’Brien, another motorist who had witnessed the event, said he saw the car brake and swerve. He also saw smoke coming from the wheels of the car.
The driver of the vehicle that had hit Luke was Edmond Walsh, age 51. Walsh had received two traumatic brain injuries, had to take 18 pills a day, and was said to have pedantic and child-like responses.
Luke’s mother, Josephine O’Donovan, said, “This man, I would say, has the mentality of a child. He ran home to tell his dad, he got home to tell his dad. But Luke didn’t get home to tell his.”
Luke died from his injuries, and his parents are now calling him a “super-hero.” They agreed to donate their son’s organs to be used to help save others.
Jo & Steve O’Donovan from Ballymacoda, Co. Cork who recently visited the Circle of Life Garden. In 2014 their only child Luke (aged 6) was knocked down outside their home and they donated his organs for transplantation which, they feel, has been of some comfort to them during the difficult times of the past few years.
As a result of their decision, four others have now been given a second chance at life. Stephen and Josephine said this is a comfort.
Stephen said, “We always taught Luke that caring is sharing or sharing is caring. I suppose this was the ultimate example of that.”
ARENT’S APPEAL – Stephen and Josephine O’Donovan, from Ballymacoda, Co Cork are the parents of little boy Luke (6) who was killed in a hit and run accident. They have called for tighter driving licence controls after it emerged the motorist’s licence was renewed after he had suffered two significant brain injuries which left him with the mentality of a child. Eoin English from The Irish Examiner was at the inquest..
He went on to say, “But you can roll the clock back and ask was this person even fit to be on the road? If he had been flagged earlier he might not even have been driving that day at that place. The system failed.”
Walsh’s car was specially equipped due to his restrictive movement of one leg and one arm. He already received a two-year suspended prison sentence and lost his driving privileges for 10 years, but said he would never drive again.
After returning their verdict in the case, the jury suggested this case be forwarded to all appropriate departments in hopes of preventing a future similar occurrence. “We don’t want any other family in our situation,” said Stephen.
Every kids blow things out of proportion or jump to conclusions at times, but consistently distorting reality is not normal.
Parents Have To Know: How to Stop Automatic Negative Thoughts
“I didn’t get invited to Julie’s party… I’m such a loser.”
“I missed the bus… nothing ever goes my way.”
“My science teacher wanted to see me… I must be in trouble.”
These were the thoughts of a high school student named James. You wouldn’t know they were from his thoughts, but James is actually pretty popular and gets decent grades.
Unfortunately, in the face of adversity, James made a common error; he had fallen into what I would like to call “thought holes.” Thought holes, or cognitive distortions, are skewed perceptions of reality. They are negative interpretations of a situation based on poor assumptions. For James, thought holes caused intense emotional distress.
Here’s the thing, all kids blow things out of proportion or jump to conclusions at times, but consistently distorting reality is not normal. Studies show that self-defeating thoughts (i.e., “I’m a loser”) will lead to self-defeating emotions (i.e., pain, anxiety, malaise) that, in turn, causing self-defeating actions (i.e., acting out, skipping school). If left unchecked, this tendency may as well lead to even more severe conditions, such as depression and anxiety.
Fortunately, in a few steps, we can teach teens how to get over their thought holes. It’s time to ditch the idea of positive thinking and introduce the tool of accurate thinking. The lesson begins with understanding of what causes inaccurate thinking in the first place.
We Create Our Own (Often Distorted) Reality
One person walked down a busy street and on his way noticed graffiti on the wall, dirt on the pavement and a couple fighting. Another person walked down the same street and noticed a refreshing breeze, an ice cream cart and a smile from a stranger. We each absorb select scenes in our environment through which we shall interpret the situation. In essence, we create our own reality through which we pay attention to.
Why don’t we just interpret the situations based on all of the information? It’s actually impossible, there are simply too many stimuli to process. In fact, the subconscious mind can absorb 20 million bits of information through all five senses in a mere second. Data is then filtered down so that the conscious mind focuses on only about 7 to 40 bits. This is a mental shortcut.
Shortcuts keep us sane by preventing sensory overload. They help us judge situations quickly. Shortcuts also, however, leave us vulnerable to errors in perception. Because we perceive reality based on a tiny sliver of information, if those information becomes unbalanced (e.g., ignores the positive and focuses on the negative), we would be left with a skewed perception of reality, or a thought hole.
Eight Common Thought Holes
Not only are we susceptible to errors in thinking, but we also tend to make those same errors over and over again. Seminal work by psychologist Aaron Beck, often referred to as the father of cognitive therapy, and his former student, David Burns, uncovered several common thought holes as seen below.
Jumping to conclusions: judging a situation based on assumptions in opposed to definitive facts
Mental filtering: paying attention only to the negative details in a situation while ignoring the positive
Magnifying: magnifying negative aspects of a situation
Minimizing: minimizing positive aspects of a situation
Personalizing: assuming the blame for problems even when you are not primarily responsible
Externalizing: pushing the blame for problems onto others even when you are primarily responsible
Overgeneralizing: concluding that one bad incident will lead to a repeated pattern of defeat
Emotional reasoning: assuming your negative emotions translate into reality, or confusing feelings with facts
Going from Distorted Thinking to Accurate Thinking
Once teens understand why they had fallen into thought holes and that several common ones exist, they are ready to start filling them in by trying a method developed by GoZen! called the 3Cs:
Check for common thought holes
Collect evidences to develop an accurate picture
Challenge the original thoughts
Let’s run through the 3Cs using James as an example. James was recently asked by his science teacher to chat after class. He immediately thought, “I must be in trouble,” and began to feel distressed.
Using the 3Cs, James should first check to see if he had fallen into one of those common thought holes. Based on the list above, it seems he had jumped to a conclusion.
James’s next step is to collect as much data or evidences as possible to create a more accurate picture of the situation. His evidences may look something like the following statements:
“I usually get good grades in science class.”
“Teachers sometimes ask you to chat after class when something is wrong.”
“I’ve never been in trouble before.”
“The science teacher didn’t seem upset when he asked me to chat.”
With all the evidence at hand, James can now challenge his original thought. The best (and most entertaining) way to do this is for James to have a debate with himself.
On one side is the James who believes he was in big trouble with his science teacher; on the other side is the James who believes that nothing was really wrong. James could use the evidence he collected to duke it out with himself! In the end, this type of self-disputation increases accurate thinking and improves emotional well-being.
Let’s teach our teens that thoughts, even distorted ones, can affect their emotional well-being. Let’s teach them to forget positive thinking and try accurate thinking instead. Above all, let’s teach our teens that they have the power to choose their thoughts.
As the pioneering psychologist and philosopher, William James, once time said that, “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”