Glendale News Press
July 18,
COMMUNITY COMMENTARY: The lack of human decency
By Mike Michaelian
As if Glendale needed one more example of the anarchy occurring on our
streets ("Hunt is on for driver," Saturday).

It would be bad enough if this lunatic kid behind the wheel of a car that
most people couldn’t even afford legitimately, hit and killed the woman
crossing the street and was just arrested at the scene. But the fact that he
simply fled the scene and left her dead on the street speaks to a
callousness and disregard for others that goes way beyond the comprehension
of civilized people.

This woman was a daughter and a sister to a now-distraught family who must
pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and go on without her.

Moreover, it is an unspeakable evil that the guy who killed her is out there
likely taking some satisfaction that he didn’t get caught. If he, simply as
a human being, has even the most minuscule sense of remorse or guilt (which
I doubt) left in his discarded conscience, he would turn himself in and face
the consequences for his actions. Given the chances of this, I pray that
someone who has information does the job for him.

And what of the eyewitness(es) in the vehicle that stopped for the
pedestrians, but then left the scene? Are they so callous as well that they
were able to leave a woman dead on the street and take off as though nothing
happened?

They should consider themselves extremely fortunate that the police are not
considering them wanted.

What has happened to this society where a human being struck and killed by a
speeding car elicits no more shock and empathy than a wayward dog or cat?

Frankly, it would be a priceless experience for me to go back 25 to 30 years
to see the look on the faces of Glendale residents after I tell them that in
2007 this city would be a place infested with spoiled kids recklessly
driving cars that most people will never legally afford.

Kids whose lack of appreciation for what they have is only outdone by their
lack of regard for anyone else but themselves.

Kids who consider the city streets (pedestrians or not) to be their own
personal proving grounds on which to affirm their over-inflated mega-egos to
one another at the expense anyone who gets in their way.

That the police now have to fly helicopters over the city streets in an
attempt to maintain some semblance of roadway civility, thereby bringing the
consequences of this reckless driving right into our homes.

That people like William Bairamian would have the gall to tell a former
mayor of Glendale to "ride the bus" if he doesn’t like the way these kids
drive.

The looks on the faces of those residents of the Glendale in times past
would be one of stark disbelief that such a tranquil city could devolve into
the daily dose of madness we see played out on our streets.

MIKE MICHAELIAN is a Glendale resident.