In high school my friends and I thought it was fun to do the “fire drill”. We were in the car and when we would stop for a red light, someone would yell “FIRE DRILL!” and we would all get out of the car and run around it until the light turned green. Whoever was the one closest to the drivers door would get in and drive until it happened again. One late night I remember doing this with about 5 or 6 girls. I ended up being the driver of the car. Much to my surprise, a police officer had seen what we were doing and quickly pulled us over. Of course I was the driver- of all the many times we had done this and never been caught! I wanted to change seats with my friend who was the owner of the car, but by the time I thought of that, the officer was at my window. I had never been pulled over before and was scared! He said, “What are all of you thinking?! I was too freaked out to say anything. If words would have come out of my mouth, the honest answer probably would have been, “Girls just want to have fun?!” He said something to me I will never forget, “A drunk driver would love to have you as a hood ornament.” I hadn’t even thought that this was dangerous. He said we looked like we had a target on our backs. We were just running around the car in an intersection?! Yes he was right- I was putting my life on the line all in the name of fun.
I had never even thought of consequences with this decision, probably like most teenagers. But I did learn something from this, and never did the “hood ornament FIRE DRILL” again. It made me stop and think. I am grateful I had this experience because for the first time I realized maybe I was not indestructible?! My life could be taken away at any point if I didn’t think. I loved living and I wasn’t going to let some dumb game stop me from doing that.
