By the Grace of God

It is by the grace of God that I am able to sit here today and write this story.  I was stricken with Parkinson's Disease at the age of 68.  It took the better part of a year for me to realize that I wasn't only being given an incurable disease, I was also being given a gift from God.  Yes, it took 69 years of my life to find out and believe that there is a God and that God is good.  Thank you God for allowing me to write these stories.
This story is directed to all drivers of motor vehicles.  This is especially directed to the alcoholic driver and the casual drinker, which is a person that may also be an alcoholic but would never admit to it.  It is further directed to all of those who text while driving and to all of those who use a phone in any manner while driving.  I might also include those who eat, drink, smoke or do anything else that might deter their attention from the job at hand and that would be driving.
I'm going to invent a word here for the purpose of this story.  That would be Textaholic.  It's mreaning will be anyone using a phone while driving.  I would venture to say that the number of alcoholics/casual drinkers, and textaholics that drive on our roads today would total close to 50 per cent of our population.  This means that 50 per cent must be more defensive minded and allow a little more distance between themselves and the alcoholics/casual drinkers and the textaholics.
Take a moment to brand yourself now, and do so once again at the end of this story.  Are you an alcholic/casual drinker?  Are you a Textaholic?  Are you a defensive driver?  I am referring to all persons that operate motor vehicles.  Here are my thoughts.  First the alcoholic/casual drinker.  This is the category that I fit into perfectly.  Even though I had several accidents in my lifetime, I was lucky enough to escape without any serious injury or God thank you, deaths.  Do not for a moment think you could ever be so lucky.  This is serious business.
I was always a beer drinker, ever since my late teen years.  Teenagers do not drink alcohol for the taste, they drink it for the effect.  If they continue to drink they may develop a taste for it and once that happens they enjoy the taste and continue drinking.  They would then begin craving that taste ans soon become an alcoholic.
Throughout many years I found myself watching the clock for the end of the workday and then stopping at a bar and guzzeling down that first beer and slowly drinking the second.  How many people do you think do exactly what I just said?  They may or may not be as addicted as I was but how many made that stop before going home to have that drink?  More often that drink that drink led to a second and sometimes more.
People in that category of alcoholic/casual drinker completely ignore or don't realize that after that second drink their body's blood alcohol  content is over the limit of the law and should they be involved in an accident  whether or not they were at fault they would be the guilty one once their blood alcohol count is tested.
It is plain to see that their are an awful lot of you in this category.  Just try finding a parking spot in the parking lots of most of the bars around 6:00 PM.  Those lots remain pretty full until around 8:;00 PM.  I sometimes wonder how many drivers have been in that bar since 5:00 PM.  This is when our defensive minded drivers really go to work.  If you have that much of a craving for alcohol why not go home and have that first one.  You could then have a second,third or more without putting innocent lives in danger.
Most accidents happen in a matter of split seconds.  Your life could be forever severed that quickly by being involved in an accident with your blood alcohol level above the legal limit.
A good friend of mine, Mike, lost his precious daughter Amy to a drunk driver at the tender age of eight.  Sorry Mike for the reminder, although I know you don't need a reminder since Amy remains in your foremost thoughts even today some twelve years later, but it puts a solid stamp on what I'm trying to say.
Now for the Textaholic.  While there is no such word, I will call it a word for this story and define it as such:  A person using a phone for any reason, a person eating, drinking, smoking or doing anything other than having his/her full time focus on their driving while operating that vehicle.
Try to remember that the purpose of driving a motor vehicle is to transport yourself and/or others from one place to another.  You have their lives in your hands while doing so.  If you see yourself as a textaholic as so many of you are, remember it takes only that sane split second as it does the alcoholic/casual drinker.  Don't wait for it to happen to a close firend or family member as so often happens.  Put your phone in your glove compartment and lock it if you have to before getting behind that wheel.  It will be there when you reach your destination.
There is nothing you could give or receive from that phone while you are driving that is more valuable than your own life or the lives of innocent people.  Why even take that chance?  Now  as I close I will ask once more:  Are you an alcoholic/casual drinker?  Are you a textaholic?  Are you a defensive driver?
If I have steered even one person to the direction of the defense, then I feel it was worth the time and effort to write this story.