Teenagers always say that it will not ever happen to them or that it will never occur in their lives. Teenager irresponsibility in a vehicle can be deadly, just like what happened to my cousin on a cold Tuesday morning. When I received the call on that Tuesday afternoon, I was in shock. My nineteen-year-old cousin was driving to Sinclair Community College on a normal sunny morning when he died. Driving north up 49, in Greenville, Ohio, I suppose, he never thought the worst was going to happen to him that day. Many speculations think that he was either falling asleep or was going to pass the car in front of him and was in a hurry. He ended up going left of center, hitting another car head on, and dying at the scene from the injuries he sustained.

Like many teenagers, he was probably in a hurry, driving at high speeds, or messing with a cell phone. Nobody really knows for sure what happened. I know vehicles are death machines. They are to be used safely, appropriately, and without distractions. They aren’t something to be racing up and down the road with. If a person would like to do that, he or she should join Nascar.

A funeral procession for a child is a mother and father’s worst nightmare. A funeral like this feels like a bottomless pit of sadness. Seeing a young, lifeless body lying in a square box covered with all of his childhood memories, which will never be forgotten, is painful. Knowing that we will never be able to talk or see him again, all we can do is move on in life. All my aunts, uncles, and cousins wept because they will never be able to see him again. It makes me angry and sad. There is a possibility this is all caused from teenager stupidity in a car.

I can remember the last time I talked to him. It was his graduation party. I gave him a big hug, back on that sunny May Saturday, and I said, “I will see you at the family reunion in August.” He couldn’t make it to the family reunion in August because he had to work, and I won’t see him at the next family reunion because he’s gone. I’ve learned to cherish each moment that I have with my loved ones because I may never know the last time I’ll get to see them. I remember all the times that we went swimming. I can also remember all of the times that he would come to Christmas parties, and nobody will ever be able to experience that anymore.