"Don't judge a person till you've reached his place," say our Sages in Pirkei Avos. And even when you've reached his place, do you know fast he had to go to get there? Take the case of the...

Intensive Car

In the U. S. these days, it is not uncommon for police cars to have video cameras mounted on their dashboards. I recently had the opportunity to see one of these videos in which the police were in a very high speed pursuit of a car that did not pull over when they signaled for it to do so. The police chased the car for miles at speeds approaching 100 mph. The car was weaving in and out of lanes. It side-swiped several cars and trucks, but it would not stop. The police radioed for help. More speeding. More hair-raising weaving through traffic. Finally the driver of the car lost control and crashed into a guardrail.

The police car pulled up behind him. The cop jumped out with his gun drawn. Cautiously he approached the driver, yelling for him to put his hands on his head. What crime could this person have committed to risk his life (and the lives of so many others) in such a dangerous escape attempt? Bank robbery? Murder? Well, it turned out that the driver was an elderly man with Alzheimer's disease who had no idea who or where he was, or how he'd gotten there. If not for Hashem watching over the situation, he could have easily been killed in the chase or by the policeman.

Do you have a story to share?

Were you in a situation where there was the potential to misjudge a person, but there really was a valid explanation? Has a friend or a relative ever told you how they were in such a situation?

Share you stories with us for inclusion in future columns of The Other Side of the Story.

To submit your story, send it to [email protected]. (To insure proper handling, put "Other Side" in the subject line of your message).

Subscribe to The Other Side of the Story via PointCast

The Ohr Somayach Home Page is hosted by TeamGenesis

Copyright � 1999 Ohr Somayach International. Send us feedback.