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GRRR
So. Incredibly pissed off right now. Actually, I'm as scared as I am pissed off.
Drugs have never been a big problem in our town. Drinking is. A number of us have it under control. We don't get pissed that often, and some of us not at all. We don't drink every weekend. And we certainly don't drive drunk.
We're not that fucking stupid.
Of course, for some reason, this seems only to apply to most of us girls, a few of the guys.
Victoria Day long weekend. A time to go out an enjoy yourself. Unless, like myself, you get stuck working a couple of Midnight-4 AM bingos.
Say you're talking on the phone with a friend, and you find out that some of your friends got tickets for open alcohol in a vehicle. The driver wasn't completely pissed, but the rest of them were. And they're proud of it. They're bloody *proud*.
I get so scared for these guys some times. They drive drunk every weekend. Multiple times a weekend, actually. Sometimes, they're so pissed that they can barely see straight.
They think it's fun. They actually think that they're better drives because they're going slow and they're paying attention.
On gravel roads, with deer and elk and moose and various birds and rabbits and other wild life that seem intent on running into your vehicle, even when you're stone cold sober.
We have talked to them. We have yelled at them, and every weekend, we offer to give them rides, and we have pointed out just how fucking dumb it is.
It is going to take one of them dying before they realize how serious this is. Our school has a serious car crash every few years, and we're over due. We've had a bunch of minor things, and the last guy to roll his car on the grid wasn't even drunk. He'd stayed sober because he was driving his friend's brother home, but they rolled, and they ended up in the hospital when some old man finally found them.
I've seen it happen before, in other towns I have friends in. No one realizes how dangerous it is until someone dies, or a bunch of people end up in surgery. Then they're careful for a little bit. But in a short time, it all goes back to the way that it was.
These people are my friends. They are my FRIENDS, and they are scaring the shit out of me. I am tired of being placated, and them telling me that they'll be okay. The time I was having all that car trouble, they came after me to make sure that I made it home all right (Which I didn't, and I did need a ride). But they won't let any of us give them a ride home, and they won't stay over at someone's place, and they just keep doing it.
They know that they can phone me at any time and I will come and give them a ride. My parents would be super pissed, but there are more important things than that.
These people are my friends, and I am so afraid for them, because they will not listen to us.
Drugs have never been a big problem in our town. Drinking is. A number of us have it under control. We don't get pissed that often, and some of us not at all. We don't drink every weekend. And we certainly don't drive drunk.
We're not that fucking stupid.
Of course, for some reason, this seems only to apply to most of us girls, a few of the guys.
Victoria Day long weekend. A time to go out an enjoy yourself. Unless, like myself, you get stuck working a couple of Midnight-4 AM bingos.
Say you're talking on the phone with a friend, and you find out that some of your friends got tickets for open alcohol in a vehicle. The driver wasn't completely pissed, but the rest of them were. And they're proud of it. They're bloody *proud*.
I get so scared for these guys some times. They drive drunk every weekend. Multiple times a weekend, actually. Sometimes, they're so pissed that they can barely see straight.
They think it's fun. They actually think that they're better drives because they're going slow and they're paying attention.
On gravel roads, with deer and elk and moose and various birds and rabbits and other wild life that seem intent on running into your vehicle, even when you're stone cold sober.
We have talked to them. We have yelled at them, and every weekend, we offer to give them rides, and we have pointed out just how fucking dumb it is.
It is going to take one of them dying before they realize how serious this is. Our school has a serious car crash every few years, and we're over due. We've had a bunch of minor things, and the last guy to roll his car on the grid wasn't even drunk. He'd stayed sober because he was driving his friend's brother home, but they rolled, and they ended up in the hospital when some old man finally found them.
I've seen it happen before, in other towns I have friends in. No one realizes how dangerous it is until someone dies, or a bunch of people end up in surgery. Then they're careful for a little bit. But in a short time, it all goes back to the way that it was.
These people are my friends. They are my FRIENDS, and they are scaring the shit out of me. I am tired of being placated, and them telling me that they'll be okay. The time I was having all that car trouble, they came after me to make sure that I made it home all right (Which I didn't, and I did need a ride). But they won't let any of us give them a ride home, and they won't stay over at someone's place, and they just keep doing it.
They know that they can phone me at any time and I will come and give them a ride. My parents would be super pissed, but there are more important things than that.
These people are my friends, and I am so afraid for them, because they will not listen to us.
no subject
My class ('91) drew the short straw. We had, if I recall (it was a moderately large school, and I didn't know them personally), three or four kids die in a car-meets-tree kind of drunk driving accident. A lot of noise was made, but no real lasting change took place other than a few more students not surviving to see graduation and a nice little memorial two page spread in the yearbook that year.
I have an aunt who's been involved in at least two DUI related accidents, and an uncle involved in at least one. The scary part isn't just when they won't listen, but when they keep not listening after whatever dire predictions come to pass.
Frustrated is definitely the place to be. But you have to keep trying, because it's better than the alternative of getting yourself to not care. As you say, they're your friends. You can't stop them from autodarwinating, but you can at least make sure they're aware of what they're doing and your views on the subject.