Please Do Not Drink and Drive!

On the night I graduated from high school, I went to a party with my friends, then to eat supper with my family.
When I woke up the next morning, I started planning the rest of my life. Months later, I went to college, met some great friends, had a lot of fun, learned a lot.
Over the next twenty years:
I went to New York, Nashville, Las Vegas, and Mexico.
I watched my brother marry his high school sweetheart, and then become a father of four.
I met the best friends anyone could ask for in a lifetime.
I walked a half marathon, and wrote a book or ten.
The one thing I did not do . . is die on the night after my high school graduation.
Four girls were injured here in east Texas, and two of them have died, not because they did anything wrong, but because their car was hit by a drunk driver.
Two lives were lost, and two others altered forever, because somebody did not have enough sense to stay off the road!
We won’t know the things these ladies would have accomplished or experienced, or the changes they would have made in the world. Chance encounters with strangers that might have lifted up a person in need won’t happen.
Their future friends will have lesser lives for not meeting them, and they don’t even know it.
And I can think of nothing more heartbreaking than a love that should have been, but never existed.
And WHY?
All because a person these girls never even met got behind the wheel while intoxicated!
I don’t know these girls who have died.
I don’t know anyone involved in the incident.
But I am heartsick over this!
I am disgusted, and furious at a system that allows this crap to continue! These kids were just out riding around, like you do after you graduate high school, and gain your freedom, and have your whole life in front of you.
They DID NOT . DESERVE TO DIE!
If the driver in question just had malfunctioning brakes, we could call this an unavoidable tragedy.
But instead, after fifty or sixty years of drunk driver-related deaths, they got drunk, and drove a car!
This is senseless!
There is no reason for things like this to continue happening! I don’t understand why drunk drivers don’t immediately lose their licenses. To my mind, driving is a privilege, not a right.
People say, “Oh but that wouldn’t be fair, these people have to get to work.” Guess what.
I’m blind, and I can’t drive. So I rely on public transportation, paid drivers, or rides from family and friends.
If you can’t be responsible, then you should not be driving, endangering yourself and the lives of others.
My heart hurts for the families and friends of these two unique individuals that were lost to this world.
I could say I’m keeping them in prayer, so sorry, all the things you say when there really is nothing you can say.
But I am sad, I am mad, and I want this senseless stupid COMPLETELY AVOIDABLE killing to stop!
You can drink all you want, but stay somewhere while you do it, or set it up with a friend in advance so they can take you where you need to go, or call a damn cab!
Just stop thinking you are invincible and above natural laws! Stop believing it won’t happen to you . . . because it will. Please don’t drink and drive!

Author: Jena

Hi there. Thanks for stopping by. I am a small-town Southern writer, book hoarder, technology enthusiast, unashamed cat lady, and huge fan of the Outlander series. I have a degree in Psychology from the University of Texas at Tyler. I love nothing more than to paint pictures with words, and to make people happy, and if I can do both at the same time, all the better. Gratitude, simple joys, and optimism are the cornerstones of my life philosophy. I am totally blind, and I have non 24 sleep disorder, and temporal lobe epilepsy. These health issues make for some interesting times, but adversity has taught me wisdom I never would have learned otherwise. I hope you will enjoy my writing, and I thank you for taking the time to read it. View all posts by Jena