Sometimes I find myself whining about the crap in my life and then I hear about something like this and I tell myself to SHUT UP! This man lost his wife and two of his children in a collision with a drunk driver on Christmas Eve. But there’s more:
“Gary Ceran has now lost seven of his nine children, his wife, his brother and his mother in recent years. Five of his children died as infants due to cancer or premature births. His mother, who lived in the basement of his house for 14 years, also died a couple of years ago, the same year his brother died.”
I read of a similar tragedy that happened to a family driving through the States during the holidays, first for a week with elderly relatives down south, then on to a cruise ship. The family had stayed at home for years tending an older member in ill health, so this was to be their first big trip together in fifteen years.
And what happens? A drunk 23 year old in a pick-up coming down the wrong side of the highway hits them head on. As in the first story, the drunk, a repeat offender, lives with a few bruises. The family is decimated, with only two out of five still living.
Its hard for me to believe that sentences are still not severe enough to get these people off the road. Drunk driving still does not seem to phase legilators or judges.
I was recently called to consult regarding a 23 year old in the hospital who had received a closed head injury from a motor vehicle accident at 3 a.m..
She had been drinking, driving and lost control of her vehicle, running off the road and striking a tree (NOT another vehicle, thank God)
She has a 3 year old daughter.
I began my “lecture” (her injuries were relatively mild) : “So, let me get this straight. You were DRINKING, and DRIVING, and also NOT WEARING A SEAT BELT?”
Her indignant response: “Yeah, well, this is the first time I didn’t wear a seat belt!”
My heart goes out to people like the ones in your story.
Folks don’t seem to understand what they might do when they choose to get behind the wheel of a vehicle when drunk.