Red Ribbon Week

So Red Ribbon Week is not normally all that special or fantastic to me. I always remember in school it was a good excuse to get out of class. But since I've been working here at Canyon View, I've had a new profound smack in the face about it. Last year, I was literally brought to tears by the Every 15 Minutes video. It was soo graphic and showed every detail of what happens when you get into a car wreck due to drinking and not wearing seatbelts. After that, and since then, I ALWAYS buckle up and make sure the kids are secured tight. This year, it was a different experience. On Monday they started announcing every 13 minutes (yeah...deaths have increased from every 15 to every 13. scary.) someone from our school who had died from an alcohol related accident. Although it was fake, those kids weren't able to be in school; no phones, no friends, no going home, no priviledges at all. They even stayed at the principals house from Sunday to today. But today was the big funeral assembly.
The school decided to make their own video and showcase 2 of the kids who die, and 1 who goes to jail for texting while driving, and killing those 2 kids as a result. It was kinda crazy to think that something as little as shooting a text real fast while driving can cause fatalities. The video was very well made (good job to the EMS, Fire Dept, Police Dept and funeral home) and really showed the affects our choices have on ourselves and others. But what got me and the students was when the 2 kids who got "killed" had their final goodbye letters read to their parents. Wow. To be read a letter from your child who is now dead; apologizing profusely for their mistakes, naming all of their regrets, telling all of the dreams they had for the future that will no longer happen. Man I never want to have to go through that, ever. And on the flip side, I never want to put my family or friends through that experience either.
So what did I learn? I WILL NOT drive and text again. Or even drive and talk on the phone unless its necessary, or I can figure out how to use my bluetooth. And my kids will be trained very well not to drink and drive. I will drive that into their heads till my dying breath. Its not something little, its something to take very seriously. Its not something that only affects you but so many people around you. Be smart. Think.