I went to a birthday party

but I remembered what you said.

You told me not to drink at all,

so I had a Sprite instead.

I felt proud of myself,

the way you said I would,

that I didn't choose to drink and drive,

though some friends said I should.

I knew I made a healthy choice

and your advice to me was right

as the party finally ended

and the kids drove out of sight.

I got into my own car,

sure to get home in one piece,

never knowing what was coming,

something I expected least.

Now I'm lying on the pavement.

I can hear the policeman say,

"The kid that caused this wreck was drunk."

His voice seems far away.

My own blood is all around me,

as I try hard not to cry.

I can hear the paramedic say,

"This girl is going to die."

I'm sure the guy had no idea,

while he was flying high,

because he chose to drink and drive

that I would have to die.

So why do people do it,

knowing that it ruins lives?

But now the pain is cutting me

like a hundred stabbing knives.

Tell my sister not to be afraid,

tell Daddy to be brave,

and when I go to heaven to

put "Daddy's Girl" on my grave.

Someone should have taught him

that it's wrong to drink and drive.

Maybe if his mom and dad had,

I'd still be alive.

My breath is getting shorter,

I'm getting really scared.

These are my final moments,

and I'm so unprepared.

I wish that you could hold me, Mom,

as I lie here and die.

I wish that I could say

I love you and good-bye.

- Retold by Jane Watkins -

In Health class, we were asked to find a newspaper article that showed the effects of being drunk. Some brought in stories of rape, but most of us handed in articles about drunk driving. I wish poems were allowed to be passed, and then I could have submitted this one instead.

I read this poem in Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul a few years back. This is the only time I opened the book again. I was fond of that poem before (even though some would call me morbid and weird) because the first time I read it, it really struck me. I do not remember when I first read this, but I do remember the way I felt after reading it, and what lines made marks on me the most. I do not drink, and I am not at the proper age of driving yet, but there were lines in the poem that made much more of an impact than the whole drunk-driving-bad-and-it-ruins-lives theme itself: “Tell my sister not to be afraid, tell Daddy to be brave, and when I go to heaven to put "Daddy's Girl" on my grave… I wish that you could hold me, Mom, as I lie here and die. I wish that I could say I love you and good-bye.” I felt sad and guilty because like the girl in the poem, I think I have a lot of things with my family that I have not said or I have not reiterated enough.

In the media, nothing is made just for the sake of it. All media have purpose, and I guess this poem has the purpose of telling people that: one, it is bad to drink and drive; and two, you never know what is going to happen in our world next.