This rant has been sitting in the back of my head for a while. I was planning on pre-writing it, but decided against it because of an event that occurred last night.
Last night someone who I knew passed away in an accident because someone decided they wanted to race their car while being drunk. They lost control of the car and hit my friend who was on a motorcycle. It was a head on collision, and my friend died instantly, the passenger from the car is in the hospital, but witnesses saw the driver throwing a beer can out the window.
Now here's my thing, why drink and drive? There are multiple ways of transportation to get you home safely without causing harm to yourself or others. If you were able to buy beers and shots all night can't you spear some money for a cab? What's it gonna take for people to realize that drinking and driving doesn't only effect the person behind the wheel, it can effect others too?
There are so many lives lost because one person decides that they want to drive after they had too much to drink. They either get on the wrong side of the highway/freeway/street, or the miss a light/yield/stop sign (or in this case make the decision to race when they really can't control the car)and sometimes they're lucky to keep their life, but someone else is unlucky losing theirs. Honestly when someone drinks and drives everyone loses. Yeah the person who decided to get behind the wheel intoxicated survives, but how lucky are you when you wake every morning realizing you took someone's life over a pointless "joyride" when you could have called a ride to get you. On top of that the innocent victim taken has mourning friends and family who hate you over a silly mistake you could have avoided. Whats the point? Where's the high in it? If you're going to drink you should be safe. Go to a friend's house just incase you get to drunk, that way you can sleep on the couch or guest room. Get a designated driver who you know won't think about touching alcohol. There are so many ways to prevent drunk driving yet so many people decide not to.
It's hard to sympathize with someone getting sentenced with intoxicated manslaughter because they made the choice to drive when they knew they shouldn't. They choose not to think about the consequences and took the chance anyway, and before someone says they weren't thinking straight cause they we're intoxicated let me say there is no no no excuse for driving while intoxicated. When deciding what to wear for the bar/club/ect. you can always ask yourself 'do I have a ride to get home safe?' or 'am I gonna have enough money for a cab/ ubber/ train/ect.' and if your answers no don't drink. As simple as that.
My parents and I were talking about this and realize no one has to drink to have a fun time. If you're going out with friends you should just know that you guys meeting up to go dancing or to play pool, ect, should be enough. How fun is it to not know how you got home? To not know if you got taken advantage of that night? To not remember if you did something embarrassing? To know your killing off your liver for something that doesn't taste that great? Some people make themselves look ridiculous when they get drunk in public, so why risk it?
All I know is if it was a family who was intoxicated or a complete stranger I would not be able to look past them taking an innocent life because they wanted a night of "fun". They're is no fun when theres lives on the line. What happens if you kill a family? What happens if its your own family? Friends? A baby of 6 weeks? Was that night of " fun" still worth it? Switch places. What if someone you love/cared for got hurt/killed by a drunk driver would you forgive them? Would you be able to look past it because it was only supposed to be "meaningless fun"? I know I wouldn't. PLEASE DON'T RISK A LIFE FOR A NIGHT THAT WILL BRING A LIFETIME OF PAIN FOR OTHERS.
Now to end this rant I would like to send out the dedication for this chapter.
RIP JUAN M. you didn't deserve to die at the hands of a careless driver. Honestly he was one of the funniest, nicest, most blunt person I knew. He had an awesome taste in music and was always there for anyone no matter if he truly knew you or not. He was a guy who would make you laugh/smile with everything he said, and who made you feel better by complementing you even though he was sometimes self cautious. There was a friend/brother/son lost for someone careless mistake that ended tragicly. )': <\3
