Name: Emily Kelley
From: Bradford, MA
Votes: 0
Emily Kelley
September
24, 2018, about 6 pm, the Haverhill High girl’s lacrosse team waved
good bye to Jordan Rankin, a senior in the class of 2019. I had only
met the girl once and shared a couple classes with her here and
there. From what I heard she was a nice girl. You heard me right, was
nice. That night after her game, Jordan went home following
behind her parents. She was going a moderate speed, making sure to
keep up with her parents. She stopped at an intersection and took a
glance to the right and left and saw a car coming but it was so far
off she figured she had nothing to worry about. She proceeds through.
Halfway through there was a bright flash and suddenly she was rolling
sideways. The airbags deploy and she is left dangling from the
driver’s seat with only the seatbelt holding her up. Within minutes
there is a whole rescue team attending to her doing their best to
safe this young woman’s life. Several hours and a helicopter ride
later, Jordan dies from the injuries.
The bright lights,
a drunken driver. The effect, 20,000 members of the Haverhill
community losing a beloved member. Jordan was only 17 years old,
hadn’t even graduated high school. She never got to experience
love, hate, life… She was robbed of her life before it had even
begun. The driver who T-Boned her was a simple boy who too was young
and had potential. Whether coming home from a party or from hanging
with some friends, it didn’t matter, because he too, was robbed.
All for a couple beers, a drunk man stole his life, stole his future,
stole his innocence. Now he has to live with the pain of knowing he
was the robber of his own life and someone else’s. Knowing that the
shock to hit the whole city and the school of her friends and the
homes of her family would leave a sharp ache in their hearts, and a
fear for their own lives. A fear that would never leave them, one
that would follow them every time they got into a car or watched
someone they loved get into one. A fear that they too would be robbed
the same as Jordan or the young driver of that night.
Many
events cannot be prevented. They are simply meant to be, the same as
the weather and tides. But this didn’t have to happen. This could
have been prevented. Jordan could have followed me on stage to
receive her diploma with the rest of us. Jordan’s parents could
have been able to enjoy being her paparazzi at her prom, taking
pictures of her beautiful self all dolled up in an elegant gown with
her hair and makeup done. Instead, Mr. and Mrs. Ranking had to walk
on stage in front of thousands to grieve for their lost daughter.
Every time a person gets into the driver’s seat of a car with
alcohol in their system, they become a criminal. It doesn’t matter
how observant they are or how well they can handle their drink, they
are still a criminal. Don’t let yourself become the person who robs
the world of an innocent person. Do the responsible thing and just
call your person to pick you up. Don’t let your fear of
embarrassment take advantage of you, because it is nothing compared
to the fear of being the person on the other end of your decision.
Just suck it up and let the sober person drive you home.
