Guffaws at seat-belt award reminder of important life lesson

OK, I'll admit it: We journalist types are a little jaded, and occasionally we do talk somewhat frivolously about the news we cover.

Case in point: On today's Page 5, we have a story detailing how a local woman was honored by the Villa Park Police Department and the Illinois Department of Transportation for … wearing her seat belt.

Actually, when I was describing the story at the morning news meeting Thursday, I had scant information, and thought it was a motorcyclist being honored for wearing a helmet when he got into an accident.

That sparked the usual round of hilarity, some of which I'd be embarrassed to share. But when I saw the version we posted on our Web site that morning, I felt compelled to send it to some other editors with this note, "It's worse than I thought -- woman honored for wearing seat belt."

That prompted one of them to write back: "Actually, wasn't she honored for having an accident? Thousands of residents no doubt strapped on their seat belts on this day; she was the only one who actually put it to use."

LOL. Good point, I replied, adding that this would make for good column fodder, were it not so snarky. So, how do I journalistically extricate myself from this mess?

Here's how:

First of all, we never even considered not publishing the story. Local person honored by one of the communities we cover -- that's our bread and butter. Also, if you look the story over closely, you'll realize the simplest acts often contain important life lessons. If Cindy Kowalski, hit by a landscaping truck, hadn't buckled up, she might have been gravely injured or killed. She escaped with cuts.

It wasn't hard to recall some other simple acts that may have saved a life or two -- stories that appeared on these very pages.

Remember the story we did in April -- a motorcyclist rear-ended by an SUV, then hanging on to the bumper as he was dragged down the roadway. Several people at a Glendale Heights bar -- standing outside to grab a smoke -- ran over to the SUV driver, pounded on his vehicle until he stopped. Somewhat obscured in the unusualness of this event was the fact that our motorcyclist, who was dragged 115 feet, might have been a goner without his helmet.

A few months ago, I attended a ceremony hosted by the Elgin Fire Department, admittedly only because my stepson was one of the honorees, to recognize acts of heroism, big and small, by firefighters, residents and businesses.

They ranged from two firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice decades ago in trying to rescue a boater caught in the backwash of a dam, to people who performed the Heimlich maneuver, to two teens who saw a burning house in the wee hours and banged on the door to wake the occupants.

Heck, they even gave out awards to people who donated training, equipment or other services. And maybe some clown in the audience quietly cracked wise about the umpteenth seemingly obscure award.

But that same clown does sometime recognize that the little things -- such a buckling one's seat belt -- can mean a lot. And, in retrospect, that's a lesson all of us jokesters should learn.