I wonder if you realize what you've done. Last I heard, you and your brother were in critical condition, just like my brother is. I don't know what kind of progress either of you has made, and I'm not sure whether or not I want to know. If I find out that you're healing faster than my brother is, I'll be angry, even angrier than I already am. You did this, you caused this, you don't deserve to heal faster or be in better condition than my brother is. On the other hand, though, if I find out that you're in worse shape than my brother, I'll feel guilty for being slightly glad. I think you deserve consequences for the choice that you made, and I know realistically that it's not right to think that way.

My brother did everything right. He was sober, he was wearing his seatbelt, he wasn't going too fast. He couldn't have done anything different to keep this from happening, he couldn't have avoided it. You could have, though. You were drunk, you'd been doing drugs, and then you got behind the wheel of your car. You can't tell me that you didn't know better because I won't even sort of believe you. Nobody gets to your age without having heard the speech about not drinking and driving.

Because of you, my brother's life is forever changed. I can't even begin to express how grateful I am that he's (miraculously) going to make a full recovery, but that doesn't change how angry I am about what you did to him. He was going to go into the military, but now he can't because of what happened. He was preparing to leave for the military by the end of the year; now he's just hoping to be back at home from the hospital and from rehab by the new year.

No matter what happens in the aftermath of that accident, I will never be able to forgive you, even if my brother can. You could have taken everything away from him; it was purely circumstantial that he's going to be okay. I don't use this word lightly, but I genuinely think that I hate you for making the choices that you made that night. Your decision to get behind the wheel that night could have ruined so many lives even further than it did.

The only bright side to what you did is that it gave me a whole new perspective on Thanksgiving. I woke up that morning to the news of what happened, and the only thought in my whole world was how thankful I was that my brother was alive. I will never take that holiday for granted ever again because it means so much more to me. Thanksgiving is the day that I almost lost my brother, the day that you almost took him away from me, and it will be that to me forever. Spending a holiday in the ICU waiting room will do that to someone, I guess.

Finally, all that I have left to say to you is that I hope you learn something from this. I hope this is enough to teach you a lesson, and I hope that you never get behind the wheel intoxicated ever again. I know that it has just reinforced that lesson for my family and for me, so I hope that it finally gets through your head now that you've experienced the effects firsthand. In fact, I'm begging you to never make this choice again. Don't ruin someone else's life just because you managed to keep from killing anyone this time.