Lives Affected: Drinking And Driving

The weekend has come, what are you planning? I would assume you aren’t planning on killing someone, ruining a family, making a serious decision for your loved one, or even watching the one you love dying on a hospital bed. Although, as soon as you take that first sip of any alcoholic beverage and have planned on driving home; needless to say, you have planned on injuring you or more importantly someone else. Whether you are a teenager, middle aged, or older when drinking and driving the rule is simple; don’t do it! Watching the video, “Lives Affected” has impacted me and has taught me a very important lesson to not drink and drive. It has made me realize that everyone in my life and others lives can be effected too. Whether you are the drunk driver or

I never once said a word to them about it or even thought to speak out. Like other teenagers I decided to keep to myself because it was “none of my business”. Watching this video and all those that died and all the heartbreak of these stories has changed my way of thinking. It is my business whether you choose to drink and drive and most importantly drink and drive and take me home that night. From one of the stories when they talked about the boy at the ice cream parlor with his friends drinking and had been drinking for some time and decided to go and take his girlfriend with him really had a defining moment for me. The girls friends stopped the girlfriend from riding with her drunk boyfriend, but what about the boyfriends friends? What did they do? They let him go. As said in the video, “At some point you’ve got to decide, given that situation, you have to be the one to step in and take the keys.” How powerful is that statement, given it could save lives? I learned to be able to speak out and “take the keys” from them and find someone else to drive or restrict them from driving until someone comes to get