Our Future Is So Bright

Just
picture it. You and four of your best friends are driving through the
back roads of your town, celebrating the win from beating your rivals
in the biggest basketball game of your high school career. The
future’s so bright for all of you. Graduation is just four short
months away.

You just
received an offer to play basketball at your dream school.

Your
best friend, the valedictorian of your graduating class, sitting in
the passenger seat next to you will be going to UCLA with an academic
full scholarship.

The one
sitting behind you is going into the army and couldn’t be any more
thrilled about it because from the day he talked to his first
recruiter, serving his country has been his dream.

Your
friend in the middle, he has been through so much. He has watched his
dad walk out and his mom suffer and pass away from cancer. From the
day his dad walked out he has been caring for his younger siblings.
He is balancing three jobs, schoolwork, basketball, and continues to
support his two little sisters. But all of his hard work has paid off
because last week he was accepted into his dream school with an
academic grant to pay for half of his schooling.

Finally
the last one in the backseat. He has been interning at a local
welding shop for two years now and he was just offered a full time,
well-paying position after he graduates high school.

Each of
you has a bright future ahead of you. Life after high school will be
like a dream come true. But what if that can all change in a second.
That song you are all jamming out to suddenly becomes the last tune
you will ever hear. Before you know it, a drunk driver ran a red
light and t-boned your car going 65 miles per hour. It’s over.
Nothing can change. The car you worked so hard to buy yourself is
mangled into a pile of scraps and pieces, all thanks to a large work
truck being driven by an irresponsible 25-year-old man. He didn’t
know what he was doing, all he knew was that it was 11 pm on a Friday
night and all he wanted to do was live it up but didn’t think twice
about what would happen if he got behind the wheel.

When
your ‘annoying’ drivers ed teacher or your parents
talks to you about the dangers of drinking and driving, it should
never be a lughing subject. Every day, almost 30 people in the U.S.
die from drunk driving. That’s one person every 50 minutes and over
10,000 people a year. To think that over 10,000 lives could be saved
if those people chose to say no to getting behind the wheel while
under the influence. Everyone on the road should look out for
possible drunk drivers and no one should ever let their friend get
behind the wheel even if they ‘only had a few.’ Those ‘few’
drinks could very quickly cause them to lose their life or to take
the life of others.