Man Forced to Choose Who to Save: Wife or Son

Monday, November 30, 2009

I found this story on Foxnews and I couldn’t help but be drawn in to this terrible tragedy about a boy who died in a car wreck by allegedly drowning because his father could not save both he and his mother who was in the same accident.


This story reminded me of a movie called Sophie’s Choice that I watched many years ago about a Jewish woman who was in a Nazi transport line and could only take one of her children on the train transporting them to a camp. The German soldier made her choose between her young son and younger daughter. She basically went crazy over her choice to keep the son and give up the daughter. The article stated very well about the husband’s choice to save his wife and not his son in the car accident, “It is the choice no parent — or spouse — should ever have to make.”


At first when I started reading this article I was heart sickened for the husband who saved his wife instead of his son thinking how bad he must feel and how could he ever be comforted again, but then as I read more about the story my opinion changed as the story unfolded. What I deduced was that he really did not have a choice because he had no way of saving his son so he should not be feeling as the article implied in the title that he was forced to make a choice about which one to save. It was reported that his wife was driving the car and their 13 year old was in the front seat when the car “cart wheeled down a steep 32 foot bank into the water,” somewhere near the family home in New Zealand. I don’t know if he heard the accident but the article reported the husband arrived at the scene in about 2 minutes and heard his wife screaming in the water and the son still trapped in the submerged car that was sinking deeper into the water. He tried to dive down and get his son out of the car but it was too deep. He turned to save his wife who was about to drown in the water. He made a statement to reporters, “I made a call to pull my wife to safety. I looked back and I could see the tail-lights but it was too far and I couldn't get him." I really don’t see the choice if he could not reach his son. After all he gave it a try but it was out of his hands. Besides, if the car went end over end down a 32 foot bank, his son might not have even lived though the crash even though the article said the boy drowned in the river. I may not believe that he drowned unless the article could site autopsy results which it did not. I think this father did everything he could, and he was fortunate to be able to quickly come upon the scene and even get the chance to save his wife.


I wish the reporter had not titled the article as it was that the man was forced to choose who to save because I don’t think that is what happened and if this husband and father reads this article it could only add to his grief and suffering which will not help his recovery from this terrible tragedy.