<p>I just got done reading an article in the local newspaper about a teen who died in an accident because he drove drunk. This 18 year old kid was partying all night and was drinking. He was going to go to another party at 4 A.M., but he couldn't find the house, so he went to go get something to eat. The people at the establishment said that they were going to call the cops on him because they knew he was drunk. This kid then sped off to resist arrest, drove at a high rate of speed, and his car flipped over because he hit a drainage pipe. Fortunately, the passenger in the car was fine. The passenger even resisted medicare care (probably in fear that he would be cited for drinking under age).</p>
<p>People can leave comments by responding to the articles. What sickens me the most are these people that say that everybody drove drunk at least one time in their lives and that most teens don't use caution. They also praised him that he was such a good person.</p>
<p>The only person that made the most sense was his friend. His friend said that he paid the price for what he did and that he wish he could have stopped his friend from driving drunk. He never praised his friend and never even said that he was a good friend to have.</p>
<p>What sickens me even more is that the school sponsored a memorial for this kid. This kid who drank underage, drove drunk, and endangered everybody else on the road.</p>
<p>Maybe I am harsh and don't forgive people very easily, but what do you think?</p>
<p>OK, actually, everyone, good and bad, does dumb stuff in their lifetime.</p>
<p>He might have been a great friend, a polite person, you never know.</p>
<p>Obviously, when it came to some responsibility issues, he was dumb. No question.</p>
<p>When a young person who is just about to reach into the real start of the rest of their lives dies, it is inherently tragic. No one should praise or condone the conditions of his death; you're right, he could have easily survived a collision with another car and killed someone innocent. And I'm guessing no one there is encouraging people to drive around drunk.</p>
<p>But perhaps the fact that this young man died so foolishly only adds to the tragedy, and people will need a way to cope with such tragedy, hence the outpouring of emotion.</p>
<p>It's a shame, it really is. Not neccessarily because he was a smart person. But because he died in such a stupid way.</p>
<p>Er, I hope you're not mixing up condone and condemn...</p>
<p>Anyway, my main point is, you're right to be outraged. This young man should have and would have ended up behind bars for this.</p>
<p>But I'm also saying that death is tragic, no matter what. He was a fool. That doesn't help his friends or family cope, heck, it makes it worse. That is why there is an outpouring of emotion, that is why people are remembering only the good. It's because they don't want to face how wrong and utterly BAD his death was.</p>
<p>Now, as for the fools trying to justify his drunk driving... Well they're morons and I hope to God they don't kill anyone by driving around drunk. Perhaps this young man will be an unfortunate lesson that the teens around there can learn from.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What sickens me even more is that the school sponsored a memorial for this kid. This kid who drank underage, drove drunk, and endangered everybody else on the road.
[/quote]
Regardless of how he died, he still died a very young and tragic age. If any of your friends died driving drunk you would not have this same reaction. Don't be so insensitive. What he did was terrible and he paid the ultimate price for his actions. However, please show some respect for such a young kid who died tragically.</p>
<p>He died nonetheless. You guys obviously don't realize the number of people that drive drunk AND LIVE. I have to clean up the outside of my work before it opens, and you'd be surprised how many cans/bottles of beer I find outside that clearly come from people driving their cars to the restaurant. I consider drunk driving as very bad, but because someone made the wrong choice of doing that doesn't mean that someone's perception of their life should be based on it.</p>
<p>Think about the positive things that this guy could have contributed to the world. Maybe he was a bum. We don't know and only those close to him really know how his life was, and they are the only ones who have the right to judge his life as a whole. We can judge the mistake he made, but we can't generalize his existence based on this one event.</p>
<p>And if he had killed someone, of course he would be sent to jail and whatnot, and of course their would be backlash from the victim's family, but I really don't honestly think I could discount the guy's entire existence. Something like that would be earnestly hard to get past, but I just wouldn't want to judge someone based on one night of their life. I'm not saying I would become friends with him or anything, and I'm not saying that we should look past what he did, but we should consider it in the context of his life.</p>
<p>What he did was wrong, but I don't think it's fair to judge someone based on one event. He really might have been a good guy otherwise--we don't know. I understand where you're coming from: he did pay the ultimate price for what he did, and one can even go so far as to say he deserved it, but it's not fair to ignore all other aspects of his life and character because his death was highly irresponsible. When someone dies we should look at the context of their entire life, not simply point out the worse: focusing only on the bad is no more realistic than focusing only on the good.</p>
<p>I agree that the memorial sounds kind of weird, though. Do all students who die there get a memorial? When I think memorial I think of honoring someone who did much good or who was a victim of an awful crime--not the committer of one. Maybe they're trying to highlight how awful drunk driving is, I don't know.</p>
<p>Hopefully some good will come from this and stop someone else from making the same mistake.</p>
<p>a memorial does not praise the kid for drunk driving! it is a way to remember their lives, not how they died. when a student dies, the school usually sets up a memorial of some sort and it would be insulting and hurtful to ignore the death of a student, regardless of the circumstances. also, i think the memorial would serve as a reminder to other students to not make the same mistake.</p>
<p>My school did almost the same thing. There were two boys who drove drunk together and hit a man. The boys were seriously injured, the (sober, responsible) man died. Students and teachers alike were being so sympathetic to the boys, saying they were "good kids." I kept thinking that if I were the man's family hearing these people saying that, I'd go ballistic.</p>
<p>Now I'm in support of a memorial, etc. There is a big difference between honoring somebody's life and pardoning them for a crime. If the person was a part of your community, you should give them a nice farewell.</p>