Yep. It is a sad case. It has been in the newspaper here several times. They tend to play it up quite a bit around Spring Break and especially in May, around graduation.
The high-school graduate that ran into them got 7 years not long ago. I can't imagine either if them will ever live the life they had planned. Truly unfortunate.
My boyfriend sent me the complete slideshow version of her story. Tragic is not strong enough a word to truly describe it.
May as well take a stab at piquing some debate here: Is this more or less tragic than her being killed outright? Discuss.
Hey, she was only a Venezuelan. We can at least thank God it didn't happen to one of our own.
Heh.. okay okay.. only kidding! I know that's terrible. I'm just mocking the patriotic.
How's this: Is it more tragic because she was good-looking? The tactics of the slideshow seem to suggest so. Does this mean it doesn't matter as much when something like this happens to an ugly person?
Originally posted by Skunks
May as well take a stab at piquing some debate here: Is this more or less tragic than her being killed outright? Discuss.
I was thinking about that. It depends on her and whether she chooses to embrace her life. Could you live like Stephen Hawkins?
More tragic b/c she has to live with the reminders of that day for the rest of her life.
Less tragic b/c she is still alive, and has the opportunity to "teach" people a valuable lesson through her tragedy. The way I see it, if seeing the before and after shots makes people think twice before drinking and driving, that is nothing but good.
Originally posted by Skunks
Discuss.
I hate when people tell me to discuss on a discussion board.
But I do believe that it's tragic only if she feels it to be so.
I grew up with a kid that recently paralyzed himself by jumping into a pool while not entirely sober. I think the speculation is that he hit his head, started floating, and then his even-drunker friends hurt him when they tried to save him.
He doesn't put fault or blame on anyone but himself, and realizes that he has to deal with what happened. He has a hard time understanding people that weren't responsible for the actions that put them in disparaging situations, such as this young woman.
"Life is unfair," is sometimes a bit hard to comprehend.
The only person who can decide if it would have been better to die would be Jacqui herself. Only the individual can know what life is worth, no one else can possibly tell us that.
It seems that this young woman finds some value in her difigured and horribly painful existence, and that, my friends is true bravery, true heroism, true guts.
Anyone, regardless of how they looked before a horrible accident, would be the victim of a tragedy if they had to endure the pain of surgeries, loss of physical abilities, and yes, tremendous disfigurement.
I have a little experience with the sorts of things that are lost from my own son. Now 21, Stephen suffered a brain injury at the age of 10, and subsequently went from being the smartest kid in school, the most popular boy on the block, to a borderline retarded child, unable to even put together a five word sentence that made sense, unable to comprehend the simplest instructions or conversation.
He has improved a great deal in the intervening years, but he will never drive due to a permanent seizure disorder, and he is often alone, with few friends, facing a future of living on disability and working as a busboy three nights a week for $3.00 per hour plus tips. He's still quite handsome, and far more positive and cheerful than I could ever be in his circumstances, but I call the transition he has been forced to make tragic.
Am I overstating it? I would far rather he had *not* died (and he very nearly did, twice, when he was injured), and so would he, because bad as things can be for him, he chooses to make the best out of the life he still has.
The pictures of Jacqui and the story that goes along with them are absolutely heart rending. I can't think of anything else to describe her situation as tragic.
I don't know about tragedy, but I know I'd rather be dead than live like that.