Lesson Learned: "I'll Never Judge Any Person Involved in an Accident"

That's the bottom line as seen through the eyes of friend and fellow fisherman Chris Napier, who was the victim of a traffic accident last month.

Said Chris, "I was driving down Virginia Beach Boulevard, getting ready to turn onto the street where I live when, out the corner of my eye, I saw a truck that just had failed to stop at a stop sign. My initial thought was that the driver was going to catch the passenger side of my truck, but he didn't. Instead, he hit the driver-side front tire of my boat trailer.

"I was doing about 35 mph," continued Chris. "I don't know how fast the other driver was going. The collision launched my boat off the trailer, and all I could do was watch helplessly as my Skeeter went sliding about 80 feet down the boulevard...that was after it had impacted the driver-side rear corner of my pickup.

"Needless to say, I was OK but devastated to see my trailer and boat lying in the middle of the road.

"After three weeks, my truck has been repaired, and the trailer totaled. I just received the estimate for my boat...still not sure what is going to happen with that."

As Chris tries to decide what he's going to do next, he laments the further tragedy he has experienced from this situation. For openers, not a single person stopped to see if he was OK.

Later that night, though, said Chris, "My accident made it to several social-media pages. Typical remarks ran the gamut from saying 'I didn't know how to tie down my boat' to that 'I just wanted insurance money.'"

Chris went on to explain that he let some of those "anything but Good Samaritans" know how he felt about their cheap shots, including a "thank you" for all their concern about his well-being at the scene...NOT!

Chris also has a word of caution for boaters everywhere. "I had just replaced my boat-saver straps, but during my accident, one broke off completely, and a hook on the other one was straightened. So, if your straps are old, I suggest that you replace them. You also should know that the accident broke the safety chains to my truck, as well as the ratchet strap on my trailer."

If this account is any indication of how far the morals in this country have degraded, I suggest that a drastic reset undoubtedly is in our future...if it's not already occurring. We best all get our heads out of the sand.