What I Want For Christmas? All Of Us To Stop Drinking & Driving

I had the opportunity to chat with Sergeant Jesse Grabow of the Minnesota Highway Patrol yesterday, and he said there were more than 500 DWI arrests in Minnesota over the Thanksgiving weekend. WHAT? 500+? Not to get all preachy, but what the hell is wrong with us?

Do I love to drink? Yes I do. Do I love to drive? Yes I do. Do I combine the two. Not to say that I never have in my dumber and younger years, but I like to think I'm a whole lot older and wiser today -- and enjoy being alive.

Do we think we're invincible? Do we think it (getting caught or in a wreck) will never happen to us? Either way, that sure seems like a twelve-year old way of thinking. (Sorry twelve year-olds.)

Minimum standards never seem like a good measuring stick to me. I don't want to be known for just doing the minimum of what's expected -- at home, at work, in life. That's what the legal blood alcohol level standard feels like to me, a minimum expectation. Bigger things to me other than 'not getting caught' or 'not getting arrested,' are things like not killing or severely injuring someone else -- either friends or family in my car, or someone outside of our car.

We don't have the right to recklessly endanger each other's lives. Let's stop. That's what I want for Christmas.