I had wanted to post something about the plight of the wolves, and I do want to share that on some future occasion, but not today. It is Friday . . . and I had a different topic I thought was worthy of discussion. I had wanted to post the picture and the story behind a most angelic creature currently appearing in posters at our local Texas Department of Public Safety offices. She has additionally appeared on a public service commercial on television. She is a young lady who got burned very badly in a wreck caused by a drunk driver. The picture of how she now looks impacts you so badly, it makes you think about ever driving after drinking again, for the rest of your life. I very badly wanted to show you the picture, but I was unable to locate it on the Internet. I did email the Public Information Office of the Texas Department of Public Safety about such, however, and they referred me to some agency in Austin who had initiated the campaign. I will come back to this subject at some later time and hopefully I can show her picture at that time.
There have been tests to show when you are impaired after drinking and according to the testing, you are actually impaired before the scientific limit, currently set at .08 in most states. In fact, according to such tests, at .04 most people are already impaired enough to be a danger behind the wheel. Not that they are likely to pass out, which is what most people think of when they think of someone drunk behind the wheel, and not because their sight is impaired to such degree that they cannot see clearly, but only to the point that if something happens, it takes a second longer for them to react correctly. In today's world, the streets are full of cars driving at fast speeds, close together almost all the time. Do you want someone who might take an extra second to hit their brakes on your tail as you drive down the freeway? Do you want to be the person who runs over some little kid because it took you an extra second to recognize what was going on before you could hit your brakes? I, for one, think it takes every bit of your concentration to drive safely.
I said the young lady whose picture I talked about was an angelic creature, didn't I? The reason I said that, is because for all the outward ugliness that was caused to her by the accident, inside of her is more beauty that I have ever seen in almost any other person. This young lady may have a hard life ahead of her because of the horrible physical changes to her appearance, but from inside of her emanated a love of life so great that I am sure she is going to deal with her life better than most could imagine themselves doing in the same predicament. For her to have come forward and to have shown her face to all, and to speak to them and tell them her story, took courage, more courage than it takes for someone to take the keys from an acquaintance they know is too impaired to drive safely. If she can be courageous, you can be too, and do everything in your power to keep impaired drivers from being on the streets, endangering the lives of us all.
Posted by Tiger at April 11, 2003 10:44 AM