As I got into my car, and drove out of the parking garage at work, I received a Facebook message alert on my phone. I immediately picked it up, and by force of habit started to reply, while at the same time looking down, looking up, "making sure" I didn't pass a stop sign, and run over a pedestrian. At that time, a lightbulb clicked in my head, and I remembered, NO MORE TEXTING. "But it's Facebook, I'm not texting anyone," I told myself, as I continued towards a stoplight.
Without hesitation, I immediately, and purposefully threw my phone the furthest away from me that I could - onto the other side of my passenger side seat (where I knew I couldn't reach it). I assured myself, that I wasn't going to risk my life or the lives of others any longer. I made a promise to myself, and to the world yesterday, And I was not going to break this promise.
In a few months, my sister Victoria, will be giving birth to her firstborn child - Ryan and I will become uncles for the first time, and there is no way in hell I'm going to risk losing each other's lives, because I played with a piece of technology. I think I can last 30 minutes to an hour without a phone, it will not kill me, but driving with it will.
At 6:30 PM today will be one whole day since I've stuck with my promise, and I will continue to do so, so long as I live.
If there is one video you should watch, this one's it - it's chilling, it will make you cry, and it will affect you in more ways than one. Please watch it.
5 comments:
Thank you my love (Ryan) for reminding me of this video.
OMG this video was outrageous. It really makes one cry their eyes out. Ugh, I'm a bad person for texting too.
Keep up the good work, Pete. I know I'm bad about picking up my phone in the car too. My KIDS have told me to put the phone down. All it takes is one second to look away from the road and it could all be over. Thanks for the "support" and inspiration to stop this bad habit myself.
I have a Bluetooth so that if anyone calls, I can just tap my ear and it will answer for anyone calling in. As for the texting, it's hard, but I'm going to do it. I was on a phone conversation with my mom just yesterday and she was talking about how everyone gets mad at her, because she doesn't pick up the phone when someone's calling her. She said she was afraid to pick it up in the car, because she loses focus on the road when she does it. I won't lie, I shed a few tears, because I was one of the ones who got mad at her for not picking it up. I told her yesterday, "don't you ever answer that phone if you're driving mom. I now understand what you meant by me watching the Oprah special on parents who had children who died due to texting." It got me really emotional, and it made me realize that i could have killed my own mother, had I kept encouraging her to do what she was trying to teach me not to for months. Jesus, now I'm crying. ugh. Thank you Melissa Post Martin, that was really nice of you to say.
I love u bunches my love. I saw this video last night and cried my eyes out all over again. Thank u for keeping your promise and I will do the same. Thank u for posting this video again too. It's so important that everyone that drives sees this. Love u bunches. See u soon.
Post a Comment