Good Choices

Matthew Clark 

GOOD CHOICES

Matthew Clark 

       I believe in the importance of good choices. No matter how big or how small, regardless of consequences and repercussions, there is always a choice. Everything we do--and don’t do--is a choice. What to eat, where to go, how to get somewhere, whether or not we want to eat, wear clothes, or go anywhere. The choice to live or die, a simple yes or a simple no. It was the first weekend of my senior year. Everybody knows what that means: parties, making out, and lots of alcohol. Cell phones were ringing everywhere all day: calls, texts, and voicemails. It was Friday afternoon, 4th period, and I was sitting in my new computer applications class next to my good friend, Guillermo. We were both happy to be sitting next to each other, as we had done the year before in English class. That class had one of those teachers everyone remembers, the SOB teacher.  He acted as though he was God’s gift to humankind. We made that teacher’s life a living hell: pranks, talking back, stealing his chalk, non-stop jokes, and Guillermo even went as far as putting a booger on his final exam. That teacher left the school after our class, and Guillermo and I were proud to have had something to do with it.  We were hoping to repeat our performance for our new teacher. The bell rang and I was walking out of class when Guillermo asked what I was doing that weekend. I told him Saturday was my one month anniversary with my girlfriend so I was going to be with her.  He gave me his phone number and told me to call him if I was interested in going to any parties. My mind was already made up, and I tucked my phone far away and didn’t look at that number again until Sunday mourning, but by then it would be too late to reach him.

        On August 15, 2006, Guillermo Alvarez, 18 years old, was killed in a car accident. He left a party that night with another friend, both having too much to drink. Anthony Diaz, the driver and friend in the accident, was knocked unconscious and fell into a coma immediately. The police report said they were going over 120 miles an hour before they lost control of the car and hit a mail box, a wooden fence, and finally a palm tree, which in turn obliterated the car. Guillermo was placed on life support until Monday morning after his family said their final goodbyes.  The doctors could do no more. Witnesses said car pieces of Anthony’s brand new, black 350Z scattered up to 150 yards away. They said that you couldn’t tell who was who because their clothes were shredded and their faces were bloodied and bruised even as their bodies lay motionless in the cold street.

       Anthony came out of his coma more than a month later, waking up and asking where he was, what happened, and where his best friend Guillermo was? Anthony made a choice that night.  Guillermo made a choice that night.  I made a choice.  Hundreds of other people all made choices that night that could have changed the outcome.  Sometimes our choices don’t affect our lives as much as they do others.There will always be choices.  “I don’t have that friend anymore” is what hundreds of people said. “I don’t have that brother anymore” is what his little brother said of his fallen hero. One choice, just one bad choice, changed thousands of lives. It’s easy to sit and ask how could he do that, but the only answer is he made a bad choice. Good choices prevent disasters and keep us safe. Our choices affect others whether we want them to or not, and because of that many a times good choices save lives. I don’t always make good choices - after all, I’m only human.  I learned a cold hard truth about choices the day Guillermo died, and I am a better person because of it. I think a little longer now when I make choices.  I remember Guillermo, and I understand how important good choices are.