Reader criticism

Last Thursday, I posted on a horrific crash that killed a West Linn man named Kevin Gilbertson, leaving behind a wife and four children. Over the weekend, I received six comments taking me to task for that post. Those "people" said I was being un-Christian, judgmental and just plain mean.

I'll admit, part of me wanted to ignore that criticism, because according to my site meter, all six posts were from one person. He or she posted anonymously each time, trying to deceptively create the appearance of a criticism groundswell.

But after thinking about it and talking with Mrs. ULC (who knows I'm sometimes a bit meat-headed), I have taken the post down and replaced it with this post. I take seriously the accusations that I'm being judgmental or less than charitable. And the bottom line is that if there's even a hint that I'm exacerbating someone's grief, I need to back off. If I knew that my words, no matter their intent, had caused additional grief, there would be no end to my own despair. If that happened, I offer my deep apologies.

My reasoning for the initial post was twofold: 1) I was angry that those kids don't have a dad because of something that seemed easily preventable; and 2) I wanted others who drive like that to see what can happen. If the picture of what's left of the car caused someone to slow down the next time he was behind the wheel, I thought maybe something good could come from Mr. Gilbertson's death.

So, if you drive like that, don't be a meathead. And say a prayer for the Gilbertson family.