Letter to the editor: Distraction can be deadly

Imagine you’re on a walk. You have your headphones in to distract you from the rest of the world. You come to a stoplight. You look. No one is coming. You start to walk, but you aren’t aware of the immediate changes in the world around you; you don’t hear cars honking at you to move because there is a runaway vehicle that is not going to stop. You continue your casual walk. Your life has been changed forever, if it is not already over.

Now, imagine you are a parent. You receive a call from your child’s phone but it is not your child. It is an officer telling you police have found your child. He tells you your child is unresponsive and is being life-flighted to the hospital. Why? Because a simple decision has taken away one of your child’s senses and distracted him for a moment that has changed your lives forever. Your child is gone, before you make it to see him.

There’s no fault in the consequences, but there are decisions that can be made to avoid these outcomes. Think about the unpredictable possibilities of your surroundings. Keep your head up. Understand what your headphones can do as well as what they prevent in your daily life. Think about the possibilities you have in life and how to have some control over the unpredictable world around you.

Alexandra Gourley

Oakmont