For What it’s Worth…

Here is the transcript for the column I just submitted to the Warrenton Journal for the Opinion Shapers spot. This is a sneak peak/pre-edited look at what I wrote. Please feel free to let me know what you think..

Life isn’t fair is it? For some reason it all seems to pile on when things are at their worst too. At the time of writing this, our community has lost two beloved teens within two weeks of each other. Both deaths were the result of traffic accidents. It’s hard to completely understand the pain that the families have been feeling during this tremendous time of loss, and while I didn’t know either of the teens personally, I knew several friends and classmates whom it has affected heavily. So for what it’s worth, to the Sherry and Monshower families, I cannot imagine your loss. You have my heartfelt prayers and deepest condolences.

Back in November, my wife and I decided along with some other friends that we were going to try and go an entire year without regular television service. We had charter cable at the time, having already downgraded from a satellite dish with the DVR, but were still finding that we were spending more time than we liked in front of the boob tube. The funniest thing about the “time-saving” aspect of the DVR, is that it was almost like keeping up with the shows we had recorded was a second job, and had taken the place of more constructive hobbies that kept us active, outdoors, and our minds sharp. Because we didn’t have to watch commercials, we actually had more time to keep up with more shows. So the cycle repeated itself. It didn’t make our life more efficient, it made it more cluttered.

The temptation was simple. After a long and frustrating day (or any kind of day for that matter) of dealing with people, talking, reading, studying, etc., I would come home and flip the television on and start my vegetation routine. It got to where it didn’t matter what was on, as long as it was a distraction from anything and everything else. This led to poor habits. Some easy to break, some not so easy, one of the not so easy ones being spending quality time with my increasingly intelligent and challenging little girl. It all came to a head and made me start to think. I didn’t want to raise a child who thought the best way to entertain herself was to flip on the television. Or that in order to learn or behave, the television had to be on. But it was an easy habit to get in to. When she got to be too much of a handful or needed a distraction we would turn on the TV. There she could be entertained by the Backyardigans, Yo Gabba-Gabba, or Wonder Pets for countless hours, and my wife could find a way to keep sanity and get the house clean. And so it became the babysitter for a time. It was a welcome distraction to allow us to keep our sanity, and lazily retreat from the stresses of parenting.

Now, nearly 5 months into our pact we are loving life. It’s amazing how much free time you find out you have when it’s not filled with that second job of keeping up with shows. Some things stick with you though, and it’s interesting how and when those things pop into memory as if they were there for a reason. One in particular that sticks out to me is a silly commercial about young people slowing down and driving safely. The car is swerving left and right in the road, a silly talk-show host looking guy gets in the back seat with the passenger, and tells them, “They can have a certain safe passage to adulthood if they just slow down and pay attention.” Interesting how after 5 months of not seeing commercials that one comes running back in a time like this.

I’m sure if given the choice, either of the young people who lost their lives [and without question their families] would choose to have their life back. I am not in any way pointing the finger or blame at anyone. Accidents happen, we all know that. There is nothing fair or understandable about it, that’s just the way life turns out sometimes. My question to us this week is, is there something more we could be doing to prevent it? If we really took a look at staggering but true statistics that traffic accidents are the number one leading cause of death in teens ages 15-19, would we maybe be more willing to consider changing the legal driving age from what it is?

I remember how aggressively I looked forward to receiving my license to drive a motor vehicle on my own when I turned 16 years old. It’s wild to think that was nearly 13 years ago. It’s even wilder to think, that at the age and maturity level I was at during that time, that the state was willing to grant me permission to operate the most dangerous tool in the world? I’ll admit, as I’m sure many of you would, I did some pretty reckless and stupid things back then, and was fortunately spared in some very close calls. I don’t expect any young people to agree with me, especially those spry 15 year olds who are chomping at the bit to receive their shiny new license (by the way, remember when you had to get a slip of paper, then wait to receive your actual license in the mail?), or even those confident 16 year olds who have just started driving or have a safe driving record. We were all at one time convinced we had it figured out and were the best drivers in the world. As I said before, I’m not looking to point fingers, I just want to start a healthy discussion. What could we be doing better to help protect our young people?