Jacqueline’s story about being in a car accident with an under-age drunk driver brought me close to tears because she shouldn’t have been punished for Reggie’s bad decision of driving home drunk. She did nothing wrong and didn’t deserve to be burned alive.

She had everything going for her, going to college, learning English, and had lots of support from her friends and family. But one decision of a stranger dramatically changed her own life forever.

On the Oprah show, Oprah asked Jacqueline if she was glad that she was saved from the car accident and she replied that she is very thankful that she is alive today. If I was in Jacqueline’s shoes I wouldn’t be happy or thankful that I was saved… I would have wished I wouldn’t have survived and that they would have just let me pass away peacefully in the hospital. I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the daily stress of strangers staring at me, children crying because they see my scared face, constantly going under the knife to try and fix the damages, and I think I would just have spiraled into a deep depression.

I admire her courage and her strength when she says she has no grudges held against Reggie or and any of his family members. If it was me I would have held a life-long grudge against Reggie but not his family members because they had nothing to do with Reggie’s mistake. I feel really bad for Reggie’s mother because she feels partly resp0nsible for the accident. She believes that if she had a better connection or told Reggie that she would be there for him when he needed her. I can understand where his mom is coming from and I wish I will have a good enough connection with my kids so that they know that I will be there when they need me.

As for Reggie I’m glad that he got sent to jail for 7 years because even though he didn’t mean to hurt Jacqueline and her 4 other friends, he still needs to pay for his actions.

After learning about Jacqueline’s story I realized that your decisions don’t just affect you they affect everybody around you. So you have got to think about how your actions will affect you and your peers.
-On a person note-
I know what alcohol and drugs can do to your body because I have a cousin who lives in San Antonio, whom I saw for Thanksgiving, she is 18 years old and her brain is completely fried from all the drugs and alcohol she had used during her teenage years. She acts almost if she is in another world or like she is day dreaming and all of her mind isn’t in reality. She is a soda addict (literally) she can go through a whole case of 24 sodas in a 2 or 3 days time, she smokes, and she is constantly pacing back and forth thought the house. Sometimes Stephanie actually sounds normal every once in a while but then she goes back into her dazed state. She lives in a half house and has to have medication to keep insane. Last summer she attacked my aunt Lisa with a butcher knife for no apparent reason then she got sent to a mental hospital for 3 months. I have since then decided that I never want to touch any drugs, beige drink, or do anything to harm my body and or my mental state. (I’m not saying that I will never have a drink or two when I’m out with my friends but it won’t be an everyday occurrence) I wish her the best of luck and I hope that she gets better but I seriously doubt that there is any chance of her recovering this time…