"An object in motion will remain in motion until some outside force is impressed upon it."
Inertia sucks. It just does.
So does not wearing your seatbelt. My students will chide me if I don't close class with "wear your seatbelt!"
Did they think I was freakin' kidding?
Statistics are cold heartless numbers, as cold and pitiless as the laws of motion themselves. Teenagers compose a disproportionate number of fatalities from motor vehicle accidents in Kansas. Add to that the fact that drivers are less likely to wear their seatbelts on rural roads than on the highways. Mix in the harvest traffic and sure enough, disaster.
Of course many teenagers subscribe to the mistaken belief that they're indestructible, that their corporeal self will live forever and is immune to the mundane laws of nature. I don't think they consciously wake up in the morning thinking, "hey, how can I defy death today?" But their actions sometimes show a heartbreaking lack of consideration of reality. They don't understand that the laws of nature don't give a damn whether you're smart or stupid, popular or ridiculed, leader or follower. Those laws of motion are in force even when you have a big ol' grin that always elicited smiles right back at you. Even when you've shown great leadership potential in your seminar. Even when you've been working so hard to get stronger and faster for your senior football season.
Even when you are a beloved student. This reality just sucks for Dexter's friends and family.
posted by Cheryl Shepherd-Adams
