Beware of the Grim Reaper
Given that today is Friday the 13th and Americans are a superstitious bunch, I think a recent idea to use The Grim Reaper to help promote awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving is apropos. North Muskegon High School in Michigan were treated to a creative way to make students aware of the number of alcohol-related death they and their peers face daily.
The students arrived at school expecting a treat. Perhaps some candy taped to the outside of their locker, or perhaps a free homework pass. Instead, they were visited by The Grim Reaper.
Everyone Must Face the Grim Reaper
There is no doubt that many adolescents feel invincible. Part of maturing is taking risks. All of us who have experienced this phase know all too well that even if we are aware of possible negative repercussions, we are too careful for it to happen to us.
Other than needing oxygen, water and sustenance the only true fact of life is that we all eventually will face the Grim Reaper.
A Great Educational Experience – Every 15 Minutes
At North Muskegon, a pair of off-duty police officers dressed up like the Grim Reaper and collected some students from class, taking them out to a parking lot complete with a car accident, emergency personnel and bloody body underneath blankets on the road.
It is an extremely disturbing statistic, but research has shown that a teenager dies in an alcohol-related accident every 15 minutes in the United States alone. As part of the “Every 15 Minutes” program, the Grim Reaper would bring out another student every 15 minutes.
The students who were visited by the Grim Reaper were sent back to class wearing black T-shirts and not allowed to speak to anyone for the rest of the day. They were call the “living dead.”
It is very difficult to get teens to acknowledge they are not invincible. Unless they have personally experienced a tragedy involving drinking and driving they do not believe they could possibly become a statistic. Imaginative ideas like these may help shake these kids loose so that they can look outside the box they have created for themselves and understand their own mortality.
Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/05/north_muskegon_high_school_stu_2.html