Parents – read this with your teenage children. Make a deal with them to pick them up or pay for their taxi anytime they make the right choice not to drive with someone who has been drinking. Promise to not give them a hard time for the 2:00 am call, but to thank them for making the right choice. Hug them when they get home!
Teenagers – At some time in the future you will be in a position of either driving while intoxicated or driving with someone who has had “…just a couple drinks, don’t worry about it.” You’re thinking, it’s just a short drive, nothing is going to happen, you don’t want to look like a nerd or bitch, so you get in the car. You just took a 1 in 25,000 chance of ending up dead or seriously injured. Worth the risk? No! If you saw the physical and mental pain that Jesse has gone through for what will be over 100 days after his injury – and if you knew the pain and suffering he is going to go through over the next two years, you would not take a one in a billion chance of getting in that car! Have the guts to say, “No thanks, I’ve got another ride.” Talk with your parents, they will always be happy to come get you or call and pay for a taxi to take you home if you make the decision to not get in the car with someone who has any alcohol in their system. Jesse knew he could call me anytime from anywhere and have me get him or pay for the ride home, he just didn’t think the “one in a million” chance of something happening like this to him would. Don’t ever take that chance and you’ll never end up in the horrible position that Jesse finds himself. Final note – you should be the same way about texting or driving recklessly. Have the guts to tell them to stop driving and texting or to let you out, you will be rewarded with a long, healthy life.