High school is described as the best four years of our lives. It's a time for freedom and laughter and friends, and it's a time for us to try and find ourselves. It's filled with milestones like prom, graduation, being in a true relationship, and getting our driver’s licenses… but everything is not all sunshine and smiles.
High school is full of ways to make mistakes. We’re teenagers. We’re not supposed to be perfect. Unfortunately, some of these mistakes aren't so easy to fix.
Every fifteen minutes, someone dies or is seriously injured as the result of someone driving while under the influence. Every fifteen minutes, someone loses a child, a sibling, a significant other, a friend. Every fifteen minutes, someone’s life is cut short due to a reckless choice.
At Silverado High School on March 23 and 24, the Every Fifteen Minutes program showed the effects of driving while under the influence. Twenty-five students were pre-determinedly pulled out of class by "Death" (a man dressed as the Reaper himself) to signify a death. A staged car crash took place just outside the school, complete with two kids acting as if they'd died in the crash and one kid being arrested as if he'd truly been the one to do it. An entire assembly was held to show the students what this is and how it impacts real life. And only juniors and seniors got to see it.
It's an amazing program, I know it. I've been a part of a similar program for a number of years, this one run up at the PB&J Leadership Camp. We call it Day of the Dead, but the message is the same. I know the dangers of driving under the influence or even driving distractedly. I know the dangers of getting into a car when I can't even walk straight, or getting into a car with someone else who’s had one too many beers. I know the dangers.
Do the rest of my peers?
Sophomores and freshmen weren't a part of this program, and I don't understand it. Yes, there was the logistics of the entire school taking part, and yes, there were timing and space issues, but the true reason we weren't included was because we apparently aren't old enough yet. This kind of stuff “won't affect us”.
Trust me when I say this: drunk driving impacts more people than you could possibly imagine. It doesn't just impact the driver, or the victim, or the person watching on the sidelines. It impacts anyone involved.
Family and friends will either have to lower their loved one into the ground or watch them get locked up for a reckless mistake. Family and friends will feel the void left by these people for the rest of their lives, no matter what words are spoken. You really want to tell me that this won't impact us because we’re too young? There are people among us who were involved in accidents like those that kill. There are people among us who feel the lose of a loved one who was taken because of someone else’s stupid decision. We understand a lot more than you'd think.
Besides that, so many sophomores are beginning to drive. We’re starting to get out onto the roads. Shouldn't we be taught how to be safe on them? Shouldn't we be taught how to not cost us our lives? Or someone else’s life? Yes, freshmen have a little while before they'll begin to drive, but teaching early is so much better than teaching too late. It should be drilled into our minds from the time that we can understand it that we should never drive while under the influence or even drive with someone who is.
There is nothing more heartbreaking than an innocent life cut too short by someone else’s mistakes. The victims of these horrific crashes tend to be those who aren't even drunk or doing anything wrong. How's that fair?
Everyone should be taught these lessons. Everyone should know what not to do with a car. Every fifteen minutes someone dies as the result of a drunk driving accident, and I wrote this article in a little over fifteen minutes. That's a problem.
Be safe on the roads. Make good decisions. Your mistakes, while they may seem small, could cost someone their life.
