The story behind the story
By Maggie Rhynes
IV Leader Editor
As the Editor of the IV Leader, there have been a million
things I’ve thought about doing. I thought about writing news stories on this or
features on that. Heaven knows plenty of other folks have told me what they
thought I should be writing about. (Just as a side note: If you have an opinion
for goodness sakes have enough nerve to sign your letter, you, and I, know who
you are.) But of all the ideas, one has proved a reality: the recreation of a
1993 Apache alcohol use-survey. I stumbled upon the article when looking through
old issues of the Apache. Just six years later, in a 1999 issue, is the story of
three IVCC students killed in a drunk driving accident. I figured maybe the
first survey didn’t sink in.
Surveying nearly 500 students and tallying their responses
was no easy task (though I had quite a lot of help and I’m very thankful for
that). I know, however, that all the time I’ve invested was worth it and I hope
you all take the time to look over the results of our survey and think about
what they mean. Is it any surprise that alcohol use is so frequent at IVCC? Of
course not. My intention was never to shock folks with percentages or attempt to
scare students out of tipping the bottle...I’m a little bit more realistic than
that.
But here’s the story behind the story. In 1996 my
grandparents were killed by a drunk driver. Ten years later, I know far too many
people with a similar story and I have to wonder, why does this keep happening?
I don’t condemn drinking. I drink, most of my family members drink. I don’t take
issue with alcohol use. I take issue only with folks who drink alcohol and drive
cars. When you drink and drive you are gambling with the lives of people you
don’t even know. Quite simply, that is ridiculous. If you stood in a parking
lot, and a friend pointed to a stranger and said, “Kill that man.” Would you do
it? Of course not. Then why would you drive a car while drunk? It isn’t any
different.
Since, I’ve heard almost every response to this argument, let
me just put a few things out there. You are NOT a better driver when you are
drunk; It WILL happen to you; and my grandparents were killed on a back country
road so don’t tell me that makes it safer.
There is not an excuse, there is not a reason and there
certainly is not forgiveness for killing a friend or someone you don’t even
know.
My grandparents didn’t get to see me graduate, they didn’t
get to meet their great-grand children and they won’t be at my wedding. For
what? For a few beers and good time? That just doesn’t add up. So before you
toss back a few and hop in the car, add up the costs. The 10 minutes it takes to
find a safe way home will without a doubt spare someone else’s family, maybe
your own, a life time of pain. That’s the only thing that adds up.