Cry Me A River

I was ten years old when my mother handed me a cigarette and asked me to light it up for her. She was too busy trying to stay on the road as she swerved from lane to lane. I don't know how we made it home that night. It wasn't her first time driving drunk and it wouldn't be her last. The fact that she allowed her children to be in the car with her is something I cannot forgive. In all the years she drove, she was never stopped. Maybe life for her would have changed. Perhaps she would have finally gotten the help she so desperately needed. There were too many enablers, too many people who knew she needed help, who allowed her to drive us to school in the morning still buzzing from last night's twelve pack. So, the video (one I cannot even watch yet) of Justin Timberlake stumbling along during a sobriety test, then doing everything in his power to suppress the video triggers a lot of emotions. He claimed he would suffer backlash if his fans saw him fumbling and mumbling, stating the sobriety test, "is hard." 

It's clear, Timberlake is still in some denial regarding his drinking habits. He too had enablers that night. Friends he had partied with, then drove home in their own vehicle, allowing Timberlake to get behind the wheel to follow. Whether it was his first time or his fiftieth, he needs to own up to his actions. I just watched a YouTube video of a man who received forty years for killing two young women because he thought he'd be fine. This was the third time he had been charged with OWI. His first, killing two women who had everything to live for. His remorse changes nothing. 

The laws here in Wisconsin are pretty lenient regarding repeat offenders. After the fifth OWI fines become steeper. Maybe a month in jail. Maybe a loss of driving privileges, usually - nothing. 

I was lucky. My sisters were lucky.  There are so many people who are no longer here because there are very few real consequences when it comes to stopping people from getting inside a deadly weapon because they feel okay, it's only a block away.

Shame on you, Justin Timberlake. The idea that you thought you were special and could hide your "mistake" is reprehensible to me. 

Someone tonight will die because of a drunk driver. Tomorrow, someone will die because of a drunk driver. All these years later, I still think of that night, as my mother swerved across the road, needing a cigarette as I sat terrified by her side just hoping to get home.

It doesn't have to be this way. It just doesn't.