Texans Lead the Way in Every Way...Or So I thought

Gayla in 2010
(1972-2011)

Maybe because it's part of being born and raised Texan, but it has always been my understanding that Texans lead the way. We are initiators, founders, leaders by our very birth. With men like Jim Bowie, Davie Crockett, Dwight Eisenhower and LBJ and women like Melinda Gates, Laura Bush and Lady Bird Johnson, Texans should be the most generous and forward-thinking people on the planet. We should see a challenge and tackle it to the ground, hog tie it, have a "Come-to-Jesus" with it and call it done. So why is it that so many of my fellow Texans laugh at me when I talk to them about making their driving space a distraction-free zone? Have we become a society of shallow, what-about-me-ers who cannot make it from point A to the corner of point B without the distraction of a phone call or text? Are we all really so important to the world turning that it cannot wait until we are parked safely out of harms way?

I have lost so much because of distracted drivers so I know the cost. As angry as I feel some days, I only have to remember that somewhere in Oklahoma, there is a 50-something year old man who has to live with the fact that he took the life of a 38-year-old woman last year. He lives with the image of my beautiful sister's lifeless form haunting his nightmares for the rest of his life. He will always know that because he couldn't wait to answer that call or return that text, our Gayla will never be see or do all the amazing that this world has to offer.

The next time you give your attention to something other than operating your vehicle safely, ask yourself if it is worth it to live in a nightmare for the rest of your life.