Parent, blogger
I was flipping through the channels the other day when I saw something that disturbed me a great deal. It was a broadcast of a monster truck show, filmed in a stadium before thousands of cheering fans. From time to time, the monster trucks would hurtle full speed from a dirt ramp and come crashing down violently atop a row of bright yellow school buses, causing the roofs to cave beneath the incredible force.
Now, I’ve never had any beef with monster trucks, and I believe that everyone has the right to have a good time. But if the monster trucks at these shows are crushing school buses, and if there are indeed kids inside these school buses, then that’s not okay. I don’t care how fun it may be or how many people have paid to watch—children should not be squashed by monster trucks. There’s no two ways about it.
Just look at it from this perspective: If you’re a child sitting in a school bus, and all of a sudden a ‘roided-up truck with a 1,700-horsepower engine is trying to smash you into the earth, it’s gonna really scare you. Even if you somehow escape unscathed, you’re still going to be traumatized. You’ll probably never want to take the bus again—and the school bus is supposed to be a safe place! Kids have enough on their plates these days without worrying about Grave Digger hunting them down on their way to school.
…children should not be squashed by monster trucks. There’s no two ways about it.
Honestly, I just don’t see why these monster trucks couldn’t be crushing, say, ice cream trucks or limousines instead. And even if you’re going to crush school buses, just empty them first. This just makes more sense, if you ask me.
Of course, these monster truck drivers probably think they can do whatever they want, considering that they can just run over anyone who stands up to them. But with great power comes great responsibility, and if these drivers are going to be tearing around in powerful monster trucks, they must realize that there are consequences to their actions.
Even if there aren’t children in the school buses, they can’t continue scaring folks into thinking there might be. At the very least, they should spray-paint “NO CHILDREN INSIDE” on top of each bus before each event so that there’s no confusion.
If the commercials are to be believed, monster truck rallies are supposed to be high-octane fun for the whole family. But last time I checked, there are children in families, and it’s hard to imagine a whole family having fun if a part of it is being crushed inside a school bus. So, let’s hold these monster truck companies to their word and demand the safety of the children who attend their events.
