“I only had one drink.”
“I needed to go home… there was no where for me to sleep.”
“I wasn’t even drunk. I was fine.”
If you’ve said any of these things, and you’ve gotten in a car and driven… this letter goes out to you.
Drunk driving is not funny. It’s not hip or “bad ass.” It’s certainly not cool. It is one of the worst decisions you could probably make in your lifetime. It is one of the most selfish decisions you could make. Don’t do it.
But, if you have, listen up.
Drunk driving is preventable in all ways. It just shouldn’t happen. But why it does still baffles me. People carelessly hop in their car with no remorse or second thought that their actions could have a ripple effect on those around them.
Think about your best friend. She is your ride or die. You all go out to your friend’s birthday party. Your best friend doesn’t drink because she has a huge test in the morning so she drives home at around midnight. You wake up the next morning to texts and phone calls and things you never imagined reading in your life. She was t-boned and killed by a drunk 18 year old coming home from a party. Her life was lost because a guy wanted to drive home to sleep in his own bed. She is gone now.
Think about your mom. She means the absolute world to you. Your mom is leaving Target after a late night run to get groceries. She is driving the family’s mini van and stops at a red light. A car goes right through the intersection and the van goes spinning. And that’s the end.
These scenarios are heart wrenching in the worst of ways. These situations happen almost every day because you decide driving while drunk is okay. Your moral values kill those in your community. Your actions have the chance to change the lives of those around you in the worst way possible. All of these pressures could easily be abolished if you simply think before you drink.
Think about how much your life would change if someone you loved got killed by a drunk driver, someone similar to yourself who thought, “they were fine.”
The simplicity of thinking before doing can change your life. Put the bottle down before you pick up your keys. Chill for a while before you think you’re okay to drive. Don’t make any decisions that you aren’t completely sure about because they can become detrimental to us all.