A few of my favourite celebs have been busted either recently or in the past for drunk driving, and every time I hear a story about anyone – regardless of race, creed, job, etc, driving drunk or high I get really angry.
I’ve talked about this before on social media, but one of my brother’s best friends got killed by a drunk and high driver. He was walking – because he too was a bit stoned – across the street, and he got hit by someone who was under the influence of whatever, and he died. The driver did not stick around.
It devastated my brother and changed the way he drinks, it also changed the way he approaches relationships, it changed everything about who he is, and I still look at him, wondering if he’s okay.
If he’s drinking it’s because he knows he isn’t driving but it’s more than that.
It’s the knowledge of the fact that every time he drinks, I know what he’s thinking. There is never a time he’s not thinking about his friend who didn’t get to finish college, get married, or have babies, but the fact that he existed is never forgotten by his friends, his family, or the people that love them.
Instead of being alive, he’s a memory, a story, a cautionary tale, and that’s the part that makes me angrier than anything in the world. When you are a celebrity, and the world worships at your feet, I know there’s pressure, but I also know you have the ability to get the kind of help most of us dream of, and choosing not to, stops being “I’m scared,” and becomes “I’m just too selfish to bother,” really quick.
I don’t want to see another person driving drunk or high, but more than that I just don’t want to see someone else die because of a decision you made.
With more and more people coming into Surrey, BC, I’m seeing a lot more cars, and a lot more people are driving and because we have so many truly long and windy roads, it’s easy to become an excitable driver and not pay attention, especially at night.
Many of the folks who wander through Surrey at night wear dark clothing, and I’ve been in many cabs where drivers just barely almost didn’t see someone crossing the street.
“Is it worth it?” Isn’t the question that we should be asking people who drive and drink, it should be “how can we help you make better decisions?“
I get really irked when people I know brag about driving high, and I don’t always say so, not because I don’t have reasons, but because I get soo fucking angry, that it’s really hard for me to pull back when I say “hey, someone close to our family died, and that person isn’t coming back,” ESPECIALLY when it’s a) not my story to tell, and b) it was my brother’s story, and he’s not the kind of person to talk about this stuff.
He and his friends lost a family member, they lost someone they loved, and the worst part is that this happens to millions of people every single day.
At all times and hours of the day, men and women, and all kinds of folks, are getting behind the wheel of a car, while hammered or high, and literally taking lives away from those who would more than likely have chosen to be here, if they could have been.
While I hesitate to recommend any particular organization or group, I will say there will be groups and organizations that will help you find the assistance that you need, to ensure that your habits good or bad, don’t affect the lives of all those around you that will most assuredly end in their death.
Beyond that, we don’t particularly want you to die either, so if you could sit back, take some time to deal and heal up, we’d appreciate that a lot more than you pushing yourself to the brink where you or someone else ends up dead because you couldn’t find the help you need. If you really, REALLY can’t find help, come find me. I’ll move Heaven and Earth to help you find assistance, but I won’t support you if you keep drinking and driving.
Sending all our love,
Krisya Ohana
Loud Mouth Brown Girl 