Of internet quotes and a bad driver

On my way back to the office today, I was stopped at a light behind a older, customized VW hatchback. There was a decal in the rear window that read:

 

"If one day the speed kills me, do not cry because I was smiling."

Paul Walker 1973 - 2013

 

I would have forgotten about it, but for the light changing and the driver treating the descent from Victoria Road to Windmill like a closed course, which is to say a lane-changing tailgating menace on a half kilometre of city street.

 

The driver made me mad. The Paul Walker quote made me mad, because obviously the driver thought enough of it to glue it to his window. So I looked up the quote. It made me madder.

 

The quote is unattributed and appears only after Walker's death. There is no evidence he ever said it. Whether to make themselves feel better about his passing or to sell bumper stickers and window decals, someone made it up and it was accepted as fact (and we all know that never happens on the internet).

 

It's also not true. The disturbingly easy to locate online coroner's report states that Walker was in a defensive position immediately before impact. He was trying to protect himself. I have a hunch if you asked Walker if he wanted his actions to end his and his friend's life that day, he would have said no.

 

To the author of this quote, you put false words in the mouth of a dead man. That's beyond low. There's no takebacks on the internet, so don't do that again. Ever. You should already feel like tapeworm inside a tapeworm for falsifying the quote in the first place.

 

To the driver, using a fake quote to glorify a preventable accident does not make you a badass nor does it mean you're living the dream. It means you need to broaden your  horizons and try new non-car things. You may live longer. Better still, so may others.