Mock Crash Gratitude
Today I am grateful for deliciously smooth Dairy Queen ice cream. I am also grateful for my job and the successful mock crash event held yesterday.
I don't often write about my job here, though I am indeed grateful for it in many ways. It is both challenging and gratifying, sometimes frustrating, sometimes rewarding. Yesterday was one of those gratifying and rewarding days, and also exhausting. But a good exhaustion.
If you aren't familiar with a mock crash, it is a staged crash with actors. The scene unfolds and actual law enforcement and emergency vehicles respond as they would in a real accident. My school's prom is later this week, and this is a powerful way to get the message across to not drink and drive, to make healthy decisions for yourself and others. Our mock crash included a fatality hauled away in a hearse, an injury taken away in an ambulance, and a drunk driver put in a police car after several field sobriety tests.The peer empowerment group I co-advise planned and carried out this event with the help of our school resource officer. I am proud of their efforts.
There are many thanks to go out. Here's just a few: the students who planned and organized it, my co-advisor, the police officer who led the way on coordinating emergency response, the student actors, the students who helped with make-up, sound, and filming, our maintenance staff, my colleague in theater who helped with sound, those others who also borrowed us equipment or let us use space, all the law enforcement and emergency personnel who helped make this an event with impact, the wonderful speaker who talked to our students after the crash, the support of teachers and school administrators. And the list goes on. A concerted effort that made a concerted difference.
As the crash scene unfolded and the drunk driver began being questioned, I was reminded yet again of "But for the grace of God, there go I." I could have been that drunk driver responsible for someone else's death many times over. I shudder to think about that now. And I pause in deep gratitude that I survived my drinking days and so did the other people sharing the road at the time.
I don't often write about my job here, though I am indeed grateful for it in many ways. It is both challenging and gratifying, sometimes frustrating, sometimes rewarding. Yesterday was one of those gratifying and rewarding days, and also exhausting. But a good exhaustion.
If you aren't familiar with a mock crash, it is a staged crash with actors. The scene unfolds and actual law enforcement and emergency vehicles respond as they would in a real accident. My school's prom is later this week, and this is a powerful way to get the message across to not drink and drive, to make healthy decisions for yourself and others. Our mock crash included a fatality hauled away in a hearse, an injury taken away in an ambulance, and a drunk driver put in a police car after several field sobriety tests.The peer empowerment group I co-advise planned and carried out this event with the help of our school resource officer. I am proud of their efforts.
There are many thanks to go out. Here's just a few: the students who planned and organized it, my co-advisor, the police officer who led the way on coordinating emergency response, the student actors, the students who helped with make-up, sound, and filming, our maintenance staff, my colleague in theater who helped with sound, those others who also borrowed us equipment or let us use space, all the law enforcement and emergency personnel who helped make this an event with impact, the wonderful speaker who talked to our students after the crash, the support of teachers and school administrators. And the list goes on. A concerted effort that made a concerted difference.
As the crash scene unfolded and the drunk driver began being questioned, I was reminded yet again of "But for the grace of God, there go I." I could have been that drunk driver responsible for someone else's death many times over. I shudder to think about that now. And I pause in deep gratitude that I survived my drinking days and so did the other people sharing the road at the time.
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