Drunk drivers are victims of greed
On December 22, 2017, the Augusta Chronicle’s editorial staff published an article which lamented the case of Tara McConnell, the drunk driver convicted of causing a June 5, 2017, vehicle collision which injured six children. Naturally, all the blame was heaped upon McConnell who was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
In a pious tone, the article bemoaned how on June 5, 2017, McConnell “Piled six neighborhood kids into her Honda Accord and headed for a gas station for slushes – with a blood alcohol content, authorities say, that was five times the legal limit.” Then, McConnell “Turned into the path of another vehicle traveling the other way – injuring all the kids in a cataclysmic collision.” The article continued, “This was no accident. It was the natural, predictable, abominable result of the thoughtless, wanton, hedonistic act of a fully aged adult self-medicating to the point of delirium and heedlessly placing those beautiful young creatures directly in the path of a moving vehicle.” The article concluded,” What is it with people today? Whither went responsibility?”
First, pose the questions to the people who rule America. Then ask yourself, what would possess a nation to constitutionally protect the manufacture, distribution, and sale of a recreational, consumable product that has been a factor in the deaths and injuries of more Americans than all the wars combined? Expectedly, after each alcohol related incident, hypocrites preach personal responsibility as the body count keep ticking upwards. Unfortunately for Tara McConnell and the injured children, this is just another case of alcohol doing what it was designed to do.
After the first drink alcohol impairs the brain and central nervous system impairing judgement. From there it’s all downhill. Alcohol is a depressant, meaning it slows down vital functions; resulting in slurred speech, unsteady movement, disturbed perceptions, and the inability to react quickly. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines alcohol as a drink such as whiskey, vodka, wine, or beer containing ethanol. Ethanol is not harmless. It is a colorless, volatile, flammable liquid that is the intoxicating agent in fermented and distilled liquors. It is commonly called alcohol or spirits. Its purpose is not to make one spiritual, but to intoxicate. Intoxication is a state in which a person’s normal capacity to act or reason is inhibited by the effects of alcohol. The alcohol profiteers know this, but the love of money trumps human life. Hence, Tara McConnell and the injured children were the victims of greed who never had a chance.
Indeed, by deceptive advertising and propaganda, millions of Americans have been seduced into worshipping the distilled evil spirit instead of the Holy Spirit.
Kevin Palmer, Evans,
