Driving responsibly

This past March I got the news that my cousin Ben, who is the same age as me (25), was in a serious car crash. Ben and a friend were traveling back from fishing all day, and Ben’s friend was driving. Ben’s friend was driving under the influence, and took a corner too fast, spinning the car into a muddy ditch. Ben suffered major injuries and was left in a coma. He was resuscitated on the spot, and flown out on an emergency chopper. Ben’s friend survived with minor injuries.

Ben fought for two months in the coma, and died on May 17. I was able to be with him in those last days of his life and to say goodbye. I will miss Ben, his vibrant personality, his wit, and his giving spirit.

I have been thinking a lot about how fragile life is, and his death has certainly been a reminder not to take life for granted. Particularly, I have thought about how his life ended because of one wrong decision, and that’s all it took. Because Ben’s friend one decision to drive drunk, he will have to live with what he did for the rest of his life. There are countless other scenarios just like this one.

I’m mentioning this because I believe that we live in an alternate reality to this one. Somehow we have developed every justification for driving under the influence. We’ve done everything psychologically to remove the possibility of such a tragedy. Driving under the influence can become so normalized, because one has done it so long without anything ever happening. Maybe someone drives after one glass, then two, then three…

However, for Ben’s friend, all it took was ONE time, and that was it.

If you think I sound like a cheesy commercial right now, please just hear me out. As much as driving drunk may be something we can just laugh off, I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. When someone does it they don’t just put themselves at risk, but innocent people who deserve a full life.

I believe we all owe it to victims like my family to drive responsibly. Sometimes a tragedy can cause us to reevaluate our lives. That’s all I’m asking.