If your counter looks like this, you do not get the keys to your car. That's right, those are all empty.

With the new year coming up, I am going to say my piece on drinking and driving. I know a lot of people go out and get wasted then drive back home from parties around this time of year, and I'm hoping my message at least reaches one person.

Picture this. There's a mom and her three kids at a party that a friend of hers is throwing to bring in the new years. They get together with some of their friends, talk, have a good time, and let the kids play together. After 12:00 o'clock comes and goes, the mom starts rounding up her kids to drive back to their home where her husband is just getting off work. They all load in the Ford Winstar and start off towards their house.

Now imagine you're going to a similar party, except you're of a little wilder nature. You get together with a bunch of friends and toast in the new years with a few Tall Boys. Now, after 12:00 comes and goes, you decide you want to go home and crash at your place. You go out, collapse into your Chevy Nova, and pull onto the road that will take you back to your home.

Obviously this is where the stories merge. As you drive down the road, you start to drift a little bit. No big deal, happens to everyone. But because you aren't really all there, you over correct and swerve into the opposite lane. As you correct, you slide sideways into the front of a minivan. The minivan punches in the side of your car, bashing your hip into your seatbelt and sending your upper body whipping to the right. Doesn't sound so bad, right? Well, when you slid into the minivan, two of the three kids weren't wearing their seatbelts. Oh, the mom had asked, but they had replied that they were all set. So on impact, the smallest child, who was sitting in the back seat launches into the back of the drivers seat and bounces off at a forward and right angle, propelling her through the right half of the front windshield. Her head impacts at a rather high speed, shattering the glass and continuing her on her brief flight through the night air. As she arcs downward, unconscience by now, her head and shoulders are pulled by gravity below her feet. Her head and her right shoulder impact with the guardrail on the right of the road. This immediately breaks her right shoulder, which is no big deal, since the rear right quadrant of her skull has shattered into three large pieces, leaving her dead within milliseconds of impact. After this impact, her body cartwheels along the cement directly beyond the guardrail for about fifteen feet, before coming to rest as a twisted and battered husk that used to be a four year old baby girl. The next child, who was a little older, was similarly thrown forward, impacting the front passenger seat. This didn't do as much damage as the first child, merely breaking his nose, knocking out his his front teeth, and breaking his right arm, since he had it infront of his body at the time of the collision. The mother and third child, a daughter, are fine, with nothing other than some minor bruises caused by the seatbelts. However, they now have to go find the youngest member of their family.

Imagine how this mother, brother, and sister are going to react to seeing their baby sister with the back of her skull split into pieces and her brain matter dripping out on the cold pavement directly beyond the guard rail. And imagine what the father will go through as his wife comes home with one of their dear children missing, and is curious as to where she is. Then the mother will have to tell her husband and the father of her children what happened.

Now, I'm not against drinking a beer or two. Hell, I don't care if you get completely plastered out of your mind. But for the love of god, please do not put yourself behind the wheel of a four thousand pound piece of steel. Alcohol has been scientifically proven to delay reactions and deteriorate judgement abilities. And if you do get behind that steering wheel knowing this, you will be responsible for all the pain that this family has to go through. And frankly, nothing gives you the right to make that decision. Your body isn't better able to tolerate it, your nerves aren't stronger. Have a friend drive you home.