Take Time For What Is Truly Important

(Prayer offered on the Public Address system for the entire La Salle Academy educational community on Tuesday morning, 10 November 2015)

“Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.”
Hello! My name is Becky and I would first like to say thank you to the SADD group for asking me to come and speak today. Each year at a summer conference called TeamSpirit schools from across the state are given a drunk driving victim to honor and remember through the next school year. The La Salle SADD chapter always does such a great job honoring the drunk driving victim they are given and this year they were assigned my mother, Marsha Bowman.

When I was 14, I was in a drunk driving crash. It was on October 29th, 1999 and my mother was driving my friend and me to the mall. Suddenly out of no where a drunk driver rear-ended our car, pushing us across the highway median and into on coming traffic. The drunk driver wasn’t paying attention to the road and was instead trying to reach for a cigarette that had fallen on the floor of his car. The two door Hyundai civic we were driving in was hit by on coming traffic and sliced into two pieces. The drunk driver and all the passengers in his car survived with minor injures, but in my car I was the only survivor. My mother and friend were killed that night. I think about them every single day and the pain never goes away.

With my family, friends and faith I have been able to deal with this tragic loss, but I wanted to do more. I wanted to make sure I did what I could so that no one else would EVER have to lose a loved one due to drunk driving. So I began publicly speaking when I was a freshman in high school, telling my story to anyone who was willing to listen. Today I have developed a new presentation where I still share the story of that night but also touch upon the five simple guidelines that have helped me live a happier life.

The five simple guidelines are:
1 free your heart from hatred
2 don’t stress
3 laugh so hard you pee your pants
4 make good choices
5 take time for what is really important

I look forward to speaking with some of you today and want to again say thank you for inviting me here today.
God Bless
Saint John Baptist de LaSalle…pray for us
Live Jesus in our hearts…………forever

Rebecca Bowman White–Red Ribbon Week Guest Speaker