Russian Roulette

Stepping into a car
is always a game of russian roulette  The click of your seatbelt
is the loading of the bullet; the revving of your engine is you
pulling back the hammer; and every time we simply take a Sunday drive
is us pressing the barrel to our heads, hoping to whatever god is out
there that our luck will carry us through. Driving is meant to be an
exciting experience; one that may have some minor risks but major
rewards, right? Yet even while we say this, we continue to keep that
gun pressed against our temples, our finger tightly wrapped around
the sensitive trigger, and whenever we text, get lost in our music,
or simply look away from the road to do something else, we are
inadvertently squeezing that trigger.

However, this doesn’t
always have to be the case. Driving doesn’t always have to be a
game of chance, where depending on how lucky we’re feeling that
day, will be the determining factor between life and death. Educating
ourselves on just how dangerous the game of chance can be will save
hundreds of lives. My own family, who all learned how to drive
through relatives as well as by experience alone, are a testament of
those who depend on luck. Before I took drivers ed, I found them all
to be excellent drivers, amazing even from my childlike perspective,
and I absolutely revered their abilities. I couldn’t wait for the
day when I was old enough to join them on the road. However, after I
educated myself on the thin line between life and death and I looked
past the facade of “minor risks and major rewards”, I began to
notice fatal errors. Albeit they seemed small, such as going a little
faster than what was legal when no one around, or glancing down to
check an email from a colleague at work, but I could see the
consequences and deadly possibilities behind each. Drivers ed taught
me how in these simple moments of complacency and assuredness of
repetition, could end in taking the life of another, even when we
don’t think so. Now when I get out onto the road, I am aware
of the need to keep an eye on people who are similar to my family, to
keep myself and others safe.

Now,
do not mistake my words as me ridiculing my family for their
incompetence because I am now the “superior driver”. No, that is
not the case at all. I still greatly admire them for their skills and
their abilities to be able to drive; after all driving is an intense
task to undertake and no less do on a daily basis, for hours on end.
What I am saying is how I’m noticing the immense risks they’re
taking and that by further educating ourselves, we can learn about
the gun pressed against our heads and how to take our finger off of
the trigger.