Keep your laughter to yourself
April 20, 2012
Out of the ten interviews I did during the Shattered Dreams simulated car crash, three people had known somebody who died or was involved in a drunk driving car crash. Two of these people were crying too hard to finish the interview.
What were they crying about? The memory of the crash and the living hell they went through afterward? Probably, in part. But what they were mostly upset about was the utter lack of respect some of their classmates were showing during this event.
Firefighters were rushing to the scene to help a driver covered in blood. Officer Mitchell was holding back the crying mother and little sister of a victim. A CareFlite helicopter landed on the lawn of the school. And what were some students talking about? The fact that it was raining.
Students that you see in class every day are being dragged from a car, covered in blood, and you are complaining about the cold? Yes, I realize that the crash was not real. Yes, I know that Katie Ruhala is not actually in a wheelchair. But can we show some respect for not only the students and adults that have put weeks of planning into this event, but for those who have been affected by drunk driving?
I witnessed a girl leaving the scene crying her eyes out with one friend trying to comfort her. When she got far enough away that no one could hear her, I heard her say to her friend, “They are just laughing and making jokes and they don’t know what it is like to watch your mom cry and to actually go through this.”
The point of the simulation was that drunk driving could affect anyone, at any time. But what lots of students don’t realize is that for some students, it already has. And these students deserve our respect. This situation is not a joke. It’s not an excuse to get out of class. It is a terrifyingly real issue, and it disappoints me that some people don’t realize that.
So go ahead- be annoyed about the weather. Silently mock how authentic the acting of a student was as he shook on the sidewalk, caked in fake blood and with his head in his hands. Wonder how much money was spent getting a real CareFlite helicopter to fly in. But if nothing else, realize that drunk driving is serious, and if it hasn’t affected you yet, it could have affected the person next to you. So, don’t pay attention if you want, but keep your laughter to yourself.
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Akuma • May 14, 2012 at 3:17 pm
You can say all you want about the kids who didn’t take it seriously. But in reality, the only true problem is stupidity of kids. If you wan to drink and drive, expect no sympathy from me.
Anon • May 10, 2012 at 11:19 am
I personally have had multiple friends die, some of which were in a drunk driving accident. Was I sad when I saw my friends? Yes. Was I crying? Yes. But if they wanted a real impact, don’t have a whole presentation about it. just do it in the back courtyard during a lunch or passing period. That would impact people thinking its real.
Pardon us if we were laughing a little taking something our school did as a joke. It was just like a pep rally to most people- a way to miss school and no one really cares.
student • May 8, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Nobody was laughing at drunk driving. It is an important issue with serious ramifications. But a contrived presentation was not the best way to portray the issue. In my opinion a presentation by people who have actually been affected by drunk driving would have been ideal, and would not have been taken lightly. It was very difficult to take the situation seriously when the video played with a couple kids getting “wasted” while Shots by LMFAO blasted in the background.
Fifty cent • May 3, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Don’t be stupid. Quit complaining and mind your own business because thats all you do on these articles.
Watermeloniqua • May 4, 2012 at 1:34 pm
my good sir, are you mad?
Michael Burdick • May 3, 2012 at 11:20 am
Look, I’ll be honest. If administration wanted us to show real sympathy and get real results, then they should have used something so not-astoundingly fake. Everyone and their mother is saying “It’s not a real crash, yes, but we have to treat it like it is”
People, including administration, need to realize that there is a decent population of students at Lovejoy, myself included, that are the unfortunate combination of cynical and intelligent. Show them a movie riddled with technical difficulties and school-approved hip lingo that leaves them in stitches laughing, followed by pulling them out into the rain to watch somebody’s money get wasted on gas for a bunch of cars and a helicopter to move some perfectly alive kids half a mile, then finish it off with some acted eulogies and overacting (and tenuous and logical-fallacy ridden connections to 4/20, which came out of the blue), and the result for this population of students is complete and utter disillusionment.
I’m not discounting the importance of this lesson. Drunk driving is stupid. I know, we all know. But, such a means of communicating this message only serves to alienate a decent portion of the student body. If admin. wants to send this message, the solution has been restated time and time again, just never as a solution. Plenty of people in this school have been affected by drunk driving. Have them talk. Heck, get a person convicted of intoxicated manslaughter out there on the gym floor. Give him free reign on what to say, let him/her have a complete heart-to-heart with the student body. If you want real emotions and realism, there it is. In people who have had this actually happen to them. What we saw on Friday wasn’t real, and the school can pull in as many CareFlite copters, have as many parents give eulogies, and spill as much fake blood as it wants, but it’s always fake and always will be fake. Get in someone who has been actually affected, who cries actual tears over actual disasters, then you can turn the entire student body.
But for Friday, the school focused too much on a situational realism, and instead completely failed on an emotional realism. And yes, people were crying. But this article itself notes that, mostly, these are people for whom the message has already sunk in. These students already are 110% set against any drunk driving. That Friday hit them with the message perfectly, but it was preaching to the choir.
Not a popular opinion, but one nonetheless.
Anonymous • May 2, 2012 at 4:07 pm
So what? we are suppose to cry over something that hasn’t happened yet.
Jared • May 1, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Unfortunately, what a lot of this article covers is true.
Yes, I understand it’s not a real car crash. The point is, this is a completely realistic situation. Go tell me years from now how hard you are laughing when you witness a very similar situation, except it’s no fake anymore. Drunk driving is no laughing matter, and one thing a lot of students fail to realize is that it happens way more often than anyone wants to admit. We’ve all had times when we say we wouldn’t do something and we do it anyway. This is one thing that applie to that very much. You will see the importance once you make it out of your home and into the world. You’ll see.
apple juice • May 1, 2012 at 11:14 am
i truly believe that the united states of america is truly a great country and no school should do an assembly about a car crash that was fake.
You can do anything, but not everything.
—David Allen
Watermeloniqua • Apr 26, 2012 at 2:15 pm
If you have to have an entire show and assembly to convince yourself not drink and drive then you’re probably retarded. Just have some common sense and don’t do it.
Bon-qui-qui • Apr 24, 2012 at 3:57 pm
We laugh at how much money Lovejoy wastes on something so obvious.
Jared • May 1, 2012 at 5:48 pm
…except all of it was entirely donated and no money was thrown away by the school to make this event possible.
bob • Apr 23, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Hey, I’m sorry but I don’t feel obligated to cry over something that is not even a real accident.