Paying Attention – Pays it Forward

Quentin Walker

513-372-1930

[email protected]

Pay Attention –
Pays it Forward

I remember it like it was yesterday. My dad woke me up on Saturday
morning and said, son I am going to take you driving. Never before
had a sentence caused so much fear and so much excitement at the same
time. I was excited because I knew in 6 months I would be 16 and
could finally get my license. The whole city would be at my
fingertips. However, from riding with my parents, I could remember
the horns blaring, the cars zooming in and out of lanes, and finally
the big rigs that were so huge. My dad took me to the parking lot of
a church that was a few miles from our home. Before I turned on the
car, he prayed for my life, he prayed for the drivers around me, he
prayed for nice policemen and he prayed for the good working of the
vehicle. After he prayed, he told me there were two types of drivers.
The first type of driver is the one that is aware and pays attention.
The next type is the distracted driver. My dad said, I want you to be
the aware driver. I am about to turn 18 and I have driven to school
every day and around my city for almost 2 years. I am proud to say I
have never been in an accident.

One of the things I
have done to be safe driver is to take a Driving Education course.
Sitting in the classroom with other young people and hearing the
stories of what could happen is enough encouragement to be safe. We
are young and don’t understand the seriousness of some of our
decisions all the time. Being around my friends and other students in
the same place as I am during the class; you don’t need to pretend
to be a know-it-all. You see that other kids are nervous about the
responsibility. Being nervous is healthy. That means you respect the
situation. Respecting the process of being on the road surrounded by
other cars is a big deal. Another thing my parents did that I believe
has helped me to not have an accident is that for the first 3 months
of driving with my license, my cell phone had to be in the glove box
and I could not listen to music. They wanted me paying full
attention. The first few months are the most nerve-wracking. This is
also when many of my friends got into accidents. I learned a lot
about how to pay attention and to be watchful for all the drivers
around me. Driving is more than what is in front of you. It is about
everything around you. This is a concept that you need to experience
and need to give yourself time to understand. Of course you cannot
always plan for what happens around you with other people, but simply
being aware goes a long way to being a responsible driver.