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Money and Youthful Stupidity the Cause
of Tragic Accident
October 21, 2003
Courtesy of The
Fan View
Story by: Michael Hobson
With so much money being handed out these
days to young athletes who have barely learned
to shave it is actually quite surprising
that more accidents, like the one that claimed
the life of Dan Snyder, don't occur. Teenagers
who have been brought up by mostly middle
class parents to respect a dollar and to
work hard to earn their stripes are suddenly
cashing million dollar cheques, and for
most kids this is merely a license to spend
and indulge. And a fast car is certainly
one of the hotter items most normal male
teens would crave. If not used with care,
with the proper amount of respect and understanding
that indulgence, that fast car, can turn
into a death mobile. That is what happened
to a pair of young Atlanta Thrasher players
who played dice on a residential street
and rolled craps.
While many of the facts are still unknown
regarding the accident in question, there
are two factors that are certain-Danny Heatley
was driving far too fast along a residential
Atlanta road when he lost control of his
car, and neither of the accident victims
were wearing seatbelts since both were expelled
from the vehicle. Being cool is of paramount
importance to young males. Driving a fast
car is cool. Driving that car fast is cool.
Wearing seatbelts is not cool. Of course
dying is not cool, but that isn't part of
the thought process when one is being urged
to "open it up" and "push
the limit". It is possible that Snyder
was urging Heatley to drive faster, and
it is quite possible that Heatley, while
hesitant, fell prey to the curse of the
young male-he wanted to be classified as
cool. It is also possible that Heatley simply
wanted to show off the power of his vehicle
to his friend, and did it at the wrong place
at the wrong time.
When I was a teenager I lived next door
to a man who owned a sleek white Corvette.
One afternoon when my neighbour was giving
me a lift somewhere he offered me opportunity
to drive his car. I quickly and eagerly
accepted. It was my first experience driving
a car that held so much strength, and I
could feel its power each time I pressed
my foot down onto the pedal. I pushed that
car, not to its limits but to my own. Fear
came into play long before the car reached
its potential. I wonder how many young males
are either without fear, or push past their
limit simply to be viewed as cool-or worse,
not to be viewed as uncool? Would it have
been different for me if my passenger had
eagerly urged me to drive faster? I don't
know. Years later I was once again privileged
to being driving a fast car and this time
I was being urged to "push it"
by my two passengers. The convertible top
was down, it was a beautiful summer night
and the highway was clear-and I pushed it.
But only for a few seconds-- until the fear
struck again. Did the fear ever strike Danny
Heatley? Did it strike just as he lost control,
or was it the fear that caused him to lose
control? We will likely never know.
The hope is, of course, that this tragedy
that sent the entire National Hockey League
reeling will give other sudden and impulsive
"rich kids" a little bit of pause
before they endeavour to exhibit their testosterone.
And hopefully fear and common sense will
prevail over the need to be cool. Life is
difficult enough; treacherous enough without
having young men lose their lives through
sheer stupidity.
Reprinted courtesy of www.thefanview.com
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