Think about possible consequences

To the editor:
Years ago my grandkids were hurt in an auto accident and I wrote a letter to the editor asking for get well cards to be sent to them.
People were so very generous. But the day after the letter’s appearance in the newspaper I went to the mailbox and it was smashed.
My grandkids were devastated.
I don’t think whoever smashed the box thought they were breaking the hearts of two small children.
They were lifelined to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, they couldn’t return to school for many weeks and they were so looking forward to receiving their own mail.
The kids who smashed the box never thought about what could happen past smashing the box.
I know one of the young men. He is a daddy and getting very close to middle age. He doesn’t know that I know what he did, but I know he felt bad when he found out about the kids.
I put up a new box the next day and the grandkids were exuberant with the generosity they were blessed with.
I choose to believe if the kids who smashed the box could have seen the looks on the faces of the kids that day I don’t think they would have done it. But they just never thought what could happen.
That is what I think about the grass fire we had. It came about 15 feet from the house and within an inch of our storage shed. The firefighters from Salamonia think perhaps someone threw a cigarette out the window because they never thought about what could happen.
Thank you to the Salamonia Fire Department and thank you to whomever it was that called the fire in. We were asleep, and didn’t smell smoke or hear anything until the fire was out.
Do they make outdoor smoke alarms?
Again, I don’t think they thought about what could happen. Perhaps next time they will think.
Thanks again to whomever called it in and thanks to the Salamonia Fire Department.
Mary Bates
Rural Portland