Regardless of intent, our decisions can carry severe results

Mother’s Day is a few weekends removed now, and I’m sure it was a special day for most of you, especially all you mothers.

My own son scored major brownie points with a 3-egg-mushroom omelette he served his mother as part of her breakfast in bed, complete with juice and milk, and her favorite, a Hy-Vee donut.

He then earned even more bonus points when she came downstairs and saw the hanging basket he bought her from Pudgy Pumpkin.

Pretty amazing for a boy who only turns two at the end of the month.

Towards the end of the day, while my wife and I reminisced about the marvels of our child, I couldn’t help but think about Nina McNeese.

Nina should have celebrated another Mother’s Day with her two boys, Maliki and Alex.

But she didn’t, and never will again as her two boys, age 5 and 4, died in a car accident Nov. 28, 2010.

I can never imagine the anguish and heartache she must feel to have her children suddenly torn from her.

I’m not sure there would be a greater pain any could ever endure than to have your children with you one minute, and seemingly stolen the next.

Compounding her anguish is the senselessness in which her children died. The vehicle that struck hers was being driven by an 18-year-old woman who was speeding, passing in a no-passing zone, and according to recent court documents, texting.

Karli Jo Brown turned 19 on Mother’s Day, which seems ironic as I imagine it would have been very difficult for her to celebrate, knowing the heartache she had caused in her last year of life.

Sunday, I attended my first graduation of 2011 in Villisca. I’ve been to a lot of graduations, and when I say a lot, I mean more than even most educators.

While my average now is down to a couple a year, when I was working in a town with four local high schools and two colleges, 6-7 commencement ceremonies a year was the norm.

But with my own little one at home, graduations take on new meanings.

As I watched a video tribute to Villisca’s 30 seniors, I couldn’t help but think about the pictures I’d submit of Jackson when he graduates.

However, it was the parents I enjoyed watching the most. When early childhood pictures of their teenager appeared, they smiled a little bigger, sat a closer to the edge of their seat, and held their spouse a little tighter. Of course, when current pictures appeared, they seemingly lost a little interest, as they were shoved back into the reality that their little boy or girl was an adult on the cusp of a life away from home.

A year ago, Brown was one of those high school seniors sitting in a gym without a care in the world.

Today, she faces two vehicular homicide charges because of the choices she made.

And it’s important to remember these weren’t malicious, mean-spirited choices she made. She didn’t intend to harm anyone when she got in her car on Nov. 28.

But she did because of the apparent recklessness of her actions, and as a result, Nina McNeese won’t get to submit cute pictures of Maliki and Alex for their high school graduations. There will be no prom photos, no rose given to her towards the end of commencement.

Recent high school graduate or not, we all need to be more aware of the possible consequences of our reckless behavior, especially when behind a wheel.

Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express, and can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com