Rural Childhood, or Death by Automobile
I always chuckle when I remember a friend's recollection that half of his kindergarten class ended up in jail, not as kids, mind you, but later, when they had reached jailing age. It's quite a statistic.
My favourite story is the one in which a certain twin (I am not sure what the other twin was up to that day) tried to rob a convenience store with a garden rake. He had a difficult time even with the rake, for he had lost both thumbs in a motorcycle accident, and had a difficult time wielding the rake without opposable digits. I think the police managed to subdue him quickly and efficiently, before he was able to injure anyone.
That this guy was arrested has always pleased me, for my most enduring memory of him was that he fell in front of me during a cross-country skiing race in grade 8 and used his ski poles to try and trip me. That will never happen again, mostly because I haven't gone skiing recently, but I think a lack of thumbs might make skiing problematic.
One of my recollections of youth in a small town is friends and acquaintances lost in automobile accidents. I have a big list, starting with a major crash between our small town and the next. I think that three of five of the the passengers died in that crash, which was fueled by high speed and drugs. It ended in the destruction of the car and a tree. Seat belts were not really enforced back then.
Over the years, I lost a few more friends, like Callan and Philip and Leon, but these were, I think, sober accidents, the kind that might happen on open rural highways with fast cars. I am not sure if these stats are the result of lax drinking and driving laws at the time, or from excessive speed on rural roads, or from the fact that a driver's license was a requirement of life in rural areas. We needed licenses to get out of town or to transport ourselves to parties where we could drink and try to pick up chicks. Of course, I did not drink and drive, but I did accept rides from those who had too much to drink. That was a bad scene, and I am happy that I made it out alive.
Comment moderation remains on: to see why, read these posts: one, two, three, four.
Technorati Tags: youth, drinking, driving, death
11 comments:
WOW! I havent lost a lot of friends. As a new driver I notice a lot of drunk drivers on the road. It's so scary. I'm glad you're here!
Coming from a small town myself, one where we had state-controlled liquor stores to push us towards moonshine and malt liquor consumption, I knew way too many folks who died in DUI-Fatals, or were seriously crippled.
I took rides as well. Definitely not a good scene.
Seat belt use by teens hasn't improved much today either! All of the car deaths by teens in our area lately, would have only involved minor injuries if they'd been wearing their seat belts!
I was a seat belt Nazi when my daughter was a teen! One of her friends made the mistake of pulling into our yard with 2 toddlers running loose in her car. They were ALL buckled when she left. ;)
hi zf, I too grew up in a small town and am of the same vintage as you (not old!). there were a lot of deaths due to alcohol, drugs, and high speeds on mountain roads. what a waste.
I hate to mean but I really had to laugh at your stories about the fellow with no thumbs. Sounds like he might have been running short on neurons too.
p.s. I just read your posts explaining the comment moderation.
I'm sorry to see this happen to you.
Wow. Coming from a small town I can believe this one. You know I am only 30 and when i was kid I had spent the day with my greatgrandmother and she was taking me home and I had put my seatbelt on and she looks at me like I was crazy and from that day on she had put hers on too. There is a point to this.
This guy about six months later came driving drunk down a road at this stop where my grand mother was at and he hit her. He ruined her car. Lets just say thankfully no one was in the back seat of her car. They would have gotten squished. They had to jaws of life her out of her car. They said it was thankful that she had her seatbelt on.
kyahgirl: No worries - I think the no thumbs story is hilarious.
This is a sad post. I'm lucky to be able to count on one hand the people I've known who have died. And only two of those were my age: Tom, a boy I barely knew from my grade nine class, who got killed playing chicken with a car (he was on a bike, not a good idea). And Ceri, who I knew since kindergarten, and who died at the age of 19 from ovarian cancer.
It is quite depressing to look back at a list of old schoolmates, prison, suicide, drunk driving, OD's...I must say I'm also glad to have made it out alive.
But thanks for lightening up the serious talk with the image of a thumbless skier...that is an amusing mental image.
It reminded me of a guy who got arrested here a few months back, he robbed an Auto Parts store and they identified him becuase...he left his fake leg at the store!
Stuff like that makes me laugh. I mean how could he have gotten out without his fake leg??? LOL... Well I guess he didnt get to far then. I know one girl that I graduated with that passed away and we werent friends but still sad to know someone your age has passed on so early. I have no idea why she was sick but people can only speculate on stuff like that.
I look back at myself, the one who knew everything and had no concept of imminent danger... and I am surprised I came out unscathed.
My word verification letters are koqteser.
Bwahaha! Awesome.
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