Years ago, when I was living in Ogden Utah, married to my first husband with three toddlers, our lives and perspective on seat belts would change one day with a knock on the door.
I opened the door to find two of our friends standing there, a couple married just a few years. They were two people blessed with beauty - a mix of ski bum and beach bum - blonde, blue eyed - model types.
It was odd to find them at our door. We'd known them socially, as we travelled in the same circles, but they had never been to the house. But there they were - so I asked them in.
They were quick to let us know they were on a "crusade' to talk to people about seat belts. Nine months earlier they had been driving home at night after a movie. It was dark. They were in their neighborhood so were going about 25 miles per hour when the car hit a manhole that the city workers had failed to put the cover back. It was like hitting a solid brick wall.
Neither was wearing seatbelts and both had their faces thrown into the dash causing major facial damage.
Nine months later they stood there. After multiple surgeries they were back in life. She was nearly finished but he faced multiple other surgeries to piece his facial structure back together.
And they just wanted to remind their friends of how crucial the simple act of clicking that seatbelt can be.
It was a turning point. No more trips were ever taken without a seatbelt.
Here is an even better and more current illustration of this concept:
I've heard recently that seatbelt usage is up to 80% now. This is amazing! And yet I still run into people who are adamant about not using them and insistent on explaining why. And then I gently tell them my story. I don't know if it ever changed anything for anyone other than myself and my family but I still feel a need to tell it sometimes, humbly and with gratitude because really, regarding my Odgen friends' experience, there but for the grace of God go I.
Copyright (c) 2013 - Chardale Irvine. All rights reserved.
I opened the door to find two of our friends standing there, a couple married just a few years. They were two people blessed with beauty - a mix of ski bum and beach bum - blonde, blue eyed - model types.
It was odd to find them at our door. We'd known them socially, as we travelled in the same circles, but they had never been to the house. But there they were - so I asked them in.
They were quick to let us know they were on a "crusade' to talk to people about seat belts. Nine months earlier they had been driving home at night after a movie. It was dark. They were in their neighborhood so were going about 25 miles per hour when the car hit a manhole that the city workers had failed to put the cover back. It was like hitting a solid brick wall.
Neither was wearing seatbelts and both had their faces thrown into the dash causing major facial damage.
Nine months later they stood there. After multiple surgeries they were back in life. She was nearly finished but he faced multiple other surgeries to piece his facial structure back together.
And they just wanted to remind their friends of how crucial the simple act of clicking that seatbelt can be.
It was a turning point. No more trips were ever taken without a seatbelt.
Here is an even better and more current illustration of this concept:
I've heard recently that seatbelt usage is up to 80% now. This is amazing! And yet I still run into people who are adamant about not using them and insistent on explaining why. And then I gently tell them my story. I don't know if it ever changed anything for anyone other than myself and my family but I still feel a need to tell it sometimes, humbly and with gratitude because really, regarding my Odgen friends' experience, there but for the grace of God go I.
Peace be with you and all that jazz!
Copyright (c) 2013 - Chardale Irvine. All rights reserved.
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