What if it were you?

Nowadays,
all too often our friends and families receive dreadful phone calls
announcing an accident of a loved one. That they’ll never see their
gleaming face return home again to greet you. Why? Was this person
attacked? Were they caught at the wrong place at the wrong time? Were
they simply in an unfortunate accident? Unfortunate, maybe, but this
is no accident.

So
you learn, the reason your loved-one is gone, the reason you can’t
even say goodbye is because of a snap? A text? A notification? As
soon as that driver reached for their cell, they made the decision
that their phone was worth more than the life of your family. This
was no accident.

People
underestimate the importance of driver safety, the idea that “It
will never happen to me” is so instilled in our brains we don’t
even have a second thought when it comes to texting and driving. So
what really is the big deal of pushing this awareness onto our young
drivers? They know the risks, they know the trauma that can come
about it, but how can we truly believe what we haven’t experienced?
These things happen in movies, not to us. That’s exactly what I had
thought, until of course it happened.

On
June 16, 2018, as a passenger in my friend’s car, we headed out to
buy some gifts for father’s day. She and I were chatting about how
excited we were to surprise our parents. Before I knew it, I looked
up to see a fourteen year-old girl slam our windshield, smashing it
to pieces – glass scattered everywhere. Her life was almost taken
that day because my friend and I were distracted. My friend was not
on her phone at the time, but I was, and if I had cared to put down
my cell, paid attention to our surroundings instead of browsing
social media that girl probably wouldn’t have been in the back of
our car – nearly unconscious, our windshield busted as my friend
drove to the hospital with tears streaming down her face. It was
single-handedly the scariest experience of my life and I’m never
going to forget the child I almost killed that day. So again, what
can we believe if we haven’t experienced it? Believe me, this is
something you don’t ever want to experience. Take my word for it –
don’t take the risks, don’t make the attempt, don’t think it’s
okay like I did, because it’s never okay. I hope no one has
to experience what I did that day, but they will, and it will only
continue if we don’t put down our phones and drive safely.

And
so I ask, who’s next to end up like that little girl? What if it
was your friend? Your family? What if it was you? Put down
your cell phones and raise your awareness while driving, your texts
will still be there by the time you get home; and that’s when
you get home, not if.