What if That Stranger Hit and Killed Me?

I was watching a documentary on HBO the other day called, SMASHED: Toxic Tales of Teens and Alcohol. This boy showed up at a party where a lot of his buddies were. What was also at the party was alcohol. The “cool” thing to do was to give into peer pressure and drink; the teenage boy couldn’t resist and he gave in. One drink led to another and as time passed by, so did the consumption of alcohol by party goers and the teenage boy. It finally got to the end of the night and the last drink the teenage boy had was hours ago. His friends and he were confident and sure that he was okay to drive home. Before he knew it, that stupid decision changed his life forever.

As the show went on I started to think about how this could happen to anyone. I’m really against drunk driving so I thought about loved ones that I know who drink and drive. I was sitting on the couch watching this helpless boy lay in the hospital bed, his eyes shut with blood everywhere. He didn’t even look like a human. Millions of tubes were connected to him sending him necessities for his own survival. His mother cried hysterically in the arms of his father who was trying to stay strong. The teenage boy was in shock trauma for eight days, and each hour, minute, and second the family stood there preying for his life. Luckily, he survived, but dying may have been easier. The simple things like walking, talking and moving had to be relearned. His long term memory turned short and his personality completely changed. Seeing the struggle that this teenage boy and his family went through made me realize so many things. I couldn’t imagine anything like this happening to someone I know, let alone someone close; whether they live or die, they’re different and still lost.

When people make the decision to drink and drive they don’t realize they are jeopardizing their own lives, but others as well. They should know that they can hit another person and kill that person or kill a passenger in the car with them. Jeopardizing lives doesn’t necessarily mean someone else having to die, but it can affect other people’s lives. The documentary showed how the parents and the teenage boy’s family stressed mentally and physically over the tragic accident. They took time off of work to care for their son and at the same time lost a lot of money because of the hospital bills and insurance. They also had to care for their child when he was going through rehabilitation. The teenager’s parents had to deal with a son who couldn’t be independent. The lives for friends and family will have changed too.

The Statistics on Drinking and Driving among Teens says that eight teens die a day due to drunk driving. That’s a lot! Some teenagers don’t think about the consequences to their own actions. If something did happen to them then I think it’s their own fault. When I was watching the documentary, in the back of my head I thought that they got what they deserved and it’s their own fault. I felt bad because it was a mean thought, but if you think about it there are so many ads, signs, and people telling teenagers about the cause and effect of drunk driving. Most of these drink drivers say that they’ve driven drunk before, but they never thought it would actually happen to them. They’re ignorant for thinking that it wouldn’t happen to them, it could happen to anyone.

I put myself in the shoes of the victims in the fatal car accidents caused by drunken teens and felt so much resentment. If someone close to me died, I don’t know if I could learn to forgive or let go of the grudge for that drunken teen. Although I think what I feel for them would fade with time, but I would never forget it.

This documentary had a great impact on me and seeing true stories of the risk of drinking and driving was enlightening. Whenever I hear about someone drinking and driving I’d rather find a safe ride home for them. I wish everyone could stop and think before they drink and drive. So every time I’m in my car there is always that thought that pops into my head, I can prevent loved ones from drinking and driving, but I can’t prevent a stranger from drinking and driving and what if that stranger hit and killed me?

Sick of Snow

It took me a while to figure out what to write about. I love doing free writes because there is so much that you can write about and express, but sometimes having a prompt or topic makes it easier to figure out what it is you’re talking about. So after a long time of deriving and contemplating, I found something passionate and hopefully not too controversial.
Snow, don’t get me wrong, but I love snow. It’s pretty to see once you haven’t seen it in a long time, but as some of you might agree, enough is enough! I can name many reasons why I’m so against the snow, but I’ll start with what I like. The first snow storm was wonderful. I didn’t have to work for a whole week and got my hopes up thinking that I was going able to relax. I was wrong. I had to shovel what seemed like every minute because the snow kept on falling, by the end of the week, groceries needed to be bought and the only thing to eat was: canned soup, crackers, and cereal without milk.
Finally, when the snow started melting another snow storm came. This continued for about seven weeks. When there was not enough snow to keep me from going to work, I had to endure the ride to work. The roads were horrible. My car slid on black ice countless times. I ran into plenty of pot holes and had to be washed many of times to clean off all the chemicals CDOT pours down on the roads to melt the ice. I was on my way to school once and there are roads that go downhill. All of the sudden the bus in front of two other cars stopped. For the record there wasn’t a bus stop in sight. I guess something was wrong with the bus. The car in back of the bus stopped, but the car in front of me couldn’t. I think he slid into the sidewalk or the car into the in front of him. I was sliding and couldn’t stop in back of them so I switched lanes really quick. I barely avoided a multiple car wreck. I was really fortunate!
So I’m glad to hear that this upcoming week is supposed to be nice and warm. I’m looking forward to the heat and better driving conditions. It’ll make it a lot easier to walk around campus. I can’t wait for the summer to come, hopefully it doesn’t snow anymore. Spring break is in about a week, and then before we know it, it’ll be summer!