Health & Fitness
To Young Adults: 'Please Don't Do It' — No. 1
Teens need to hear about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse to help them avoid tragedies — here is the first of four posts to give them something to think about.
A first of four parts.
Hi, my name is Harley Keeling. I’ve got two girls, eighth and sixth grade. I’ve been wanting to say some things primarily to the young adults for some time, so recently I started writing. My four “please don’t do its” are real life followed by an article that’s been in various publishings and lastly “Final Logic,” a phrase I coined and theological statement that means no disrespect to the great ones. It’s rebuttal is in reality not a rebuttal.
My first “please don’t do it” story involves poor alcoholic choices. My dad and I were both very involved in CB radio communications in the 1970s and 1980s. Besides my car, I had a base station — I, the Sunshine Kid and dad, the Bald Eagle. Dad was proud of his American Indian heritage.
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He was driving west on I-96 around Kensington Road when a very clear signal might have saved our lives on a late December 1972 evening. It was:
“You westbound 96ers, you’ve got a Kamikaze coming at a high rate of speed.”
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Dad didn’t say a word, just pulled over on the far right shoulder, turned his lights off and we didn’t have to wait long. We saw his headlights approaching and other vehicles violently swerving to avoid being hit.
As he went by in the lane closest to us, I remember thinking, “Please mister, stop,” but he didn’t He got about two more miles down the road and had a head-on, both drivers killed. I remember sadness as I read the front-page article two days later about two young men in their 30s, their lives ended and their families preparing funerals during a holiday season.
I’ve wondered how can someone be so plastered that he can drive at least seven or eight miles on the wrong side of the freeway with people violently swerving to avoid being hit and still not figure it out? A one-word answer: alcohol.
In the future, when you’re 21, please remember to drive with responsibility. Everyone’s life is precious.
Editor's note: This is the first of four parts that publishes a speech Harley made May 9 during public comment before the Hartland Board of Education. He has since decided to share it here in a series of blog posts. You can hear Harley in his own words by clicking on the video.