February first I finally got my license. As I pulled out of my driveway, I thought,Freedom at last.

Driving down the road, I looked to my left and saw anaccident. A young driver had rear-ended a car driven by an older man. The man wasseriously injured. I prayed I would never get in an accident.

Little didI know that less than two months later I would be in the same situation. Afterdropping off my friends, I was rear-ended at a very high speed. Her car wastotaled and my Blazer had over $4,500 worth of damage. At the time of the impact,the left side of my chest slammed into my steering wheel, causing me extreme painfor over a month.

When I got out of my car I could not believe what hadhappened. I had worked so hard to buy my vehicle, and I felt like she had takenmy hard work and thrown it in the trash.

When the cops arrived we gavethem all the information. Thankfully, she said she had insurance. When I turnedin the claim to my insurance agency, though, I was informed that she wasuninsured. Her insurance had expired two days before the accident. I couldn'tbelieve it; how was I supposed to pay for all this?

I received a call fromthe lady who hit me. She asked how I was doing and apologized for not havinginsurance. She told me to watch my mail because she would be sending mesomething. What could it be? Flowers? An apology card? Much to my surprise, itwas a check in the exact amount of the damage done to my car. I had never felt sogood.

I got my Blazer fixed and thought everything was finally back tonormal. Everything was okay, at least for a few weeks. Then I began to feel painin my chest every day. Trying to sit in class and not say anything about it wasreally hard. I couldn't concentrate. I finally went to the nurse. She said I hadlittle air passage in my left lung. I did not understand how serious what she hadsaid was until the next day. I was sitting in class when I felt a horrendouspain. It was so bad I couldn't walk.

A doctor told me that my lung was 75percent collapsed. They had to do surgery to insert a tube in my lung toreinflate it. I was in the hospital for five days, racking up a huge bill whichthe woman who hit me had to pay. But she just filed for bankruptcy to make sureshe wouldn't have to pay my hospital bills.

All of this taught me thevalue of auto insurance. I believe more than ever that people should always carryauto insurance even if it is only liability. Auto insurance protects not onlyothers but also yourself.