On March 7, a friend posted on Instagram that his brother-in-law died. I reached out to offer condolences. He explained the tragic circumstances that led to his brother-in-law dying. It was a freak accident. Then I read several press reports. One suggested there had been sort of confrontation. “Hall County teacher killed after confronting teens,” blared the headline. It was not true.
Jason Hughes was a high school teacher at North Hall High School. He taught math and coached golf. On March 6, after the rain, some of his favorite students toilet papered his home. As the students were driving off, Hughes ran out of his house toward them, slipped, fell into the road, and the students hit him. He died at the scene. The students were charged with crimes.
Jason’s brother-in-law said I could share the text he sent me about the incident.
“There was no ‘confrontation.’ Jason knew the students were coming and he was excited and waiting to ‘catch them’ in the act. It had been raining and he accidentally slipped and fell into the road in front of the vehicle as they were driving away and was hit. The students immediately tried to provide aid until the paramedics arrived. Jason loved these students and they loved him too. Our family fully supports getting the charges dropped for all involved. This is a terrible tragedy, and our family is determined to prevent a separate tragedy from occurring, ruining the lives of these students. This would be counter to Jason’s lifelong dedication of investing in the lives of these children.
“Jason was the school leader for NG3. Their organization finds school leaders to share the Gospel with students. They do it through smaller discipleship groups usually centered around school teams or clubs led by teachers or other volunteers. If you met Jason, you quickly knew he was different and passionate about leading EVERYONE to Christ but especially his students. He also led men’s groups for coaches doing Bible study but also focusing on being better fathers and husbands.”
These students will be impacted for the rest of their lives. Jason’s traumatized family, now having to plan a funeral, are also working to get the charges dropped against the students.
Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect takes hold of skeptics
Credit: Erick Erickson
Credit: Erick Erickson
Author Michael Crichton once described what he termed the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect, which he named after his friend Murray Gell-Mann, a physicist. In Crichton’s words, “You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well.” In Gell-Mann’s case, physics. In mine, show business.
You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward — reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.
“In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know,” says Crichton.
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
After reading about the confrontation and the implications that the students had, perhaps willfully, killed their teacher, I thought about the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. I also thought about life’s preciousness.
Relaying this story on social media to help draw attention to a GoFundMe account for Jason’s family, multiple people suggested to me that there clearly had to be details missing. They could not fathom such a freak accident.
Surely there was someone to blame. Scientists have explained so much, people often cannot fathom mysteries, accidents, and coincidences anymore.
Even devout Christians struggle with this tragedy
People overcomplicate the simple and oversimplify the complicated to understand the world around them. People want someone to blame for bad things. Sometimes, it is just very simple — bad things happen and there is no one to blame.
“[W]e know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,” the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:28.
At times like this, even the most devout Christian would struggle to ascertain what good can come from this.
Jason Hughes was a devout believer committed to his faith who led a Christian group on campus sharing the gospel. He would surely remember the two previous verses.
“[T]he Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27.
Sometimes, all we can do is pray even if we are not sure how. This is one of those times.
Erick Erickson is host of the nationally syndicated “Erick Erickson Show,” heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on WSB radio. He is also now an opinion contributor to the AJC.
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