Andy Holloman – Dad, Writer, Goofball

When I got in my car today, I turned off my cell phone.  I didn’t want to be distracted.

I read that using your cell phone while driving is like drinking and driving.  I’m smarter than that.

Because I turned off my phone, I saved someone’s life.  Now I don’t have to spend the rest of my life remembering the day I killed someone.  Now I don’t have to cry myself to sleep thinking about the suffering  I caused another family.  A family that would miss their loved one every day.  I don’t have wake up every morning and recall that my silly obsession with phone calls and text messages caused another human being to perish.

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Because I’m turning off my cell phone when I get in the car, my teenagers are learning to do the same.  They’re learning the same way I taught them the importance of wearing a seat belt.    It becomes habit.   Since they’ll avoid using their phone when driving, I saved my own child from the agony of living with the fact that they caused the death of a human being.  My child won’t wake up daily and have to remember a horrible, bloody crash scene.  Nor will they suffer a lifetime of guilt.  I know that one of the most common causes of death for teenagers is automobile accidents.  I’m happy that I am contributing to a reduction in this statistic.

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Because my teenager learned that using the phone while driving is dangerous, they asked one of their friends to not text while driving.  Since my teenager did this, they spared their friend from the horrible reality of ending a life.   My teenager’s friend now won’t have bad dreams or wake up crying because they have to remember the suffering that they caused another family who could’ve lost a loved one due to silly obsessions over phone calls or text messages.

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Because I shared this thought, I will work much harder to make sure that I save more lives in the future.  Perhaps by sharing this, I will save two lives today.  And because a friend on social media shared this,  they will save a life also.  It makes me very happy that my friends are saving lives all around the world.