The Tragedies That Make A Difference

So it seems that drinking and driving will never become something that people will begin to take seriously. By seriously, I mean that when they consider the factors before getting behind the wheel of a car, they assume that there is a strong possibility that they will no longer be alive after the trip, and that a funeral will be held in their honor.

Why does it take tragedy and horrible, morbid events to occur before people realize what the ramifications of their simple, every day actions can become? I am certainly not claiming to be innocent by any means, however, if I can't learn from my own mistakes then I will most certainly learn from someone else's. By this I mean, statistically I know how many people die each year in alcohol related incidents, so I changed my ways from whence I was younger and began to think of such things before I would drive drunk such as, "Would my mother really like to have to plan my funeral this week or have to see me lying cold and dead in a casket?" "Would my child grow up okay without his mother present?" Well, I always answer these types of questions with the answer, "NO.".

When I think of what can happen because of such wreckless behavior I become nauseated. To think of how such a [stupid] decision, to drive drunk, can effect so many people. The choice is SO selfish. I know at the time that people don't look at it that way. They are thinking, "I am not that drunk!" or "It's not that far of a drive." No one wants to have to find a way back to their car the next day after they get a sober ride home, but, think of the alternative... What if you don't live to see the next day at all? Every day people drive past road side memorials and crosses either completely disregarding their presence entirely or momentarily thinking, "That's sad.", then they continue driving, never really considering the tragedy that occurred in that spot or that it could happen to them.



So, back to all who are effected by such a tragedy by someone who chooses to drive drunk... Well, there are always the immediate family members such as the parents, siblings, children, grandparents, the significant other and their family, etc. Then there are countless friends and co-workers. The parents are the hardest to think about for me because now that I am a parent I picture my own child being ripped away from me and I cannot describe the pain I feel other than an excruciating burning inside of my chest... To hear a police officer tell you that your child (no matter how old they are they are still your child) has been in a wreck and they did not survive, to then have to see their broken body and identify it, and then somehow, under all of the grief and anger you are feeling, plan a funeral within the days after their tragic death... How could one bear that? To think of the same baby that I gave birth to and just twenty some odd years later having to put that same child back into the ground because of something that could have been avoided... the grief would be too immense to know unless you actually experienced it.

The fact is that people just don't realize how much love people around them have for them. Before a decision is made that could effect the lives of so many, maybe it should first be considered, "Is what I am about to do really worth it?"



Over the next three days I will be attending two wakes and two funerals of two people that were way too young to die. Such a tragic loss was suffered here. When I look at the pictures and read the news paper articles, I can't help but think that only one good thing can come of this... and that is that people will learn from what has happened here and when they are about to make the decision between drinking and driving or not to, they will think of this loss and know that You read about people dying every day on the news or read about it in the paper. If you are in the line of work then you may even see it every day. But, it is never the same as when you lose someone that you know or love. Those are the tragedies that remain in your mind forever.