How to Save a Life

It was the day after my sister’s graduation from Georgetown, and my siblings and I were taking a walk down Wisconsin Avenue. It was sunny out and people were beginning to enjoy the first glimpses of a warm summer. As we were filtering through the sea of people on the sidewalk, my sister got a phone call. We waited, of course, thinking it was just a call from her roommate or maybe her work, but as her eyes glazed over and her face grew paler, it became apparent that such was not the case. I remember all of the thoughts rushing through my mind. Was it her grandpa? Didn’t he have some kind of medical issue? Was it her dog? They did just get a new puppy. Then she said with tears streaming down her face, “Brian died.” My thoughts suddenly disappeared; in fact, I recall thinking of nothing at all. I didn’t know a dying Brian, a sick Brian, or even a Brian over the age of forty. The only Brian I knew was twelve year old Brian, the boy scout who loved basketball and his two siblings, whose dad we wrote letters to in the second grade while he served in Bahrain, and whose mom was seven months pregnant with a baby boy. I only knew the Brian who always got two pieces of pepperoni pizza every Friday and slightly swayed his hips when the music played in the chapel The only Brian I knew was sitting in the backseat of his grandparents car driving home from a baseball game he went to as a thirteenth birthday present when a driver crashed right into the rear. The only Brian I would never forget was lying lifeless on a hospital bed.

At the time, I was studying to take my permit test the next month, but how could I think of becoming a driver now? The answer: education. When someone is driving, it is important not only that they remember the rules of the road so they don’t get hurt but so they don’t harshly impact the lives of everyone else in the vehicles beside them, behind them, or miles in front of them. Essentially, those with a wheel in their hands are also entitled to the responsibility of a weapon. Over one hundred people are killed each day in the United States by said weapons, but additionally millions suffer from the PTSD, depression, and anxiety of losing a loved one or worse yet, taking the life. Therefore, as humans capable of love and hate, living and dying, it is extremely important that we know how to safely drive by learning, practicing, and teaching others how to do the same. Know what to do in the case of emergency; know how to assess your own vehicle’s needs; and above all, don’t do the things that you know are wrong according to the law, like drunk driving or texting whilst driving. You never know, it might just save someone’s life.