A 12-year-old softball player was knocked unconscious when a ball hit her
in the head during practice, and she died a day later, police and family said.
Margaret Ruth "Maggie" Hilbrands was hit by a ground ball during a routine
infield drill on Monday . . . The Grand Rapids girl died Tuesday at DeVos
Children's Hospital. "She missed the ball. It appears it hit her in the wrong
spot. She never regained consciousness," her mother, Jan Hilbrands, told The
Grand Rapids Press.
And we take a step closer to everyone wearing helmets, always.
3 comments:
Shyster, normally I think you're on the mark. It's a shame about this girl dying, and she should be properly mourned. But we can't get carried away about things. Everyone wearing helmets isn't the way to go. Kids already have to wear helmets to ride a bike. In my 42 years, I've only know one person to have an accident riding a bicycle and a helmet wouldn't have made a difference. What's next? Before kids can climb a tree, they'll need a harness and a safety net. Before farmers can work around their animals, they need to have paramedics standing by. Before police can answer a call, they'll need to do a risk assesement and deciede whether or not its too dangerous to go in.
Life is full of sharp corners. Padding all of them doesn't make life easier. It makes it harder because we'll never learn to be careful if its all legislated for us.
Football players already wear massive amounts of pads, and 2 or 3 players still die every year. So do we outlaw the game?
I'm not making light of these deaths, and it is a tragedy for both families. But death is a part of life. We have to accept this.
And before anyone thinks I'm a cold-hearted SOB, I spent 20 years in the Army and saw a whole bunch of people die, most of them unnecessarily, to include 16-year old kids. I didn't like it, but life is what it is.
Beware the slippery slope.
64cards -- To be clear, I'm not saying everyone should wear helmets. Indeed, I agree more with your view of things.
I'm just saying that when incidents like these happen, especially a couple in a row, people tend to push for that sort of thing and I wouldn't be surprised if you actually do see helmets being mandated more and more, even if it constitutes a silly overreaction.
Fair enough. I understand your point now. As I was writing, I was actually thinking about how glad I am this isn't an election year. I can just see this becoming the pet project of some junior congressman hell-bent on getting some votes buy exploiting the situation.
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