The title of this article is hilarious, right? Good drunk driver. Ha! That’s obviously not a thing. Well, that’s what I think too. But, again and again I have to hear this phrase, so allow me to clarify a couple of things.
There is totally, absolutely, positively no such thing as a “good” drunk driver. I do not care how often you drink and drive, or that you’ve never had a wreck, or that you’ve never been pulled over.
You only have been lucky enough to avoid a wreck or a DUI. You will not avoid these consequences forever.
Drinking and driving says a couple different things:
It says that your life and the places you are going are more important than anyone you may encounter on your nightly drive. That two-year-old little girl you pass on the road as she’s sleeping peacefully in the back of her mommy’s van? Gone. In the milli second of an instant it takes for you to nod off at the wheel. But, you obviously don’t care about her, right? You drink and drive and pass that little girl and her mom night after night. It takes one time, though. It takes one distracted second. It takes you continuing on your same self-centered journey.
Drinking and driving says that alcohol completely rules over you and every decision you make. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “I don’t even know how I made it home last night” or “I had every intention of staying the night there, but when I drink I just can’t stop myself from driving”. That’s a problem. You have a serious problem. Do you really want a liquid in a bottle ruling over your life and every move that you make?
And finally, tonight, when you turn the key in your car, you say loud and clear that you care nothing about the family and friends who love you dearly. The people who beg, and cry, and stay up night after night to make sure you make it home. The loved ones who sleep with their phone on when you’re out and wake up in the middle of the night frantic that they’ve missed you’re ring for help. As you roll in, and make it home tonight, you laugh and say, “I told you I’d make it, I always do.” Know, please know, that they’re not laughing.
Think.
That’s all I’m asking.
Think about the selfishness of your actions.
About how they don’t just affect you.
And please
Don’t ever try to convince someone you’re a “good” drunk driver.
You’re not.
