And here in Washington, DC, we have just lived through yet another senseless tragedy in which four beautiful young girls were killed when the driver cut across traffic on the highway and was mowed down by a tractor trailer. Three of the four had graduated from high school six hours earlier. Alcohol has been found at the crash scene, and the assumption is that alcohol may have impaired the judgment of the driver, although toxicology tests won’t be back for another week or two.

So life is full of tragedies and near-tragedies, and I keep hearing from people like you who talk about the ways they’ve learned to deal with their powerful fears and anxieties around this common subject.

Thanks for writing –
Caroline

Your essay brings this true story to mind too… When I was 15 my father was teaching me how to drive. I was frustrated with my father’s authoritative tone and excessively slow driving. I said, “Dad - let’s go, speed it up a bit, no one drives this slow. You are the slowest driver on the block.” In a deadpan voice he replied, “Lisa, I once killed a man.” I said, “What are you talking about. You’d never kill anyone!” He explained: “I did kill a man but not intentionally. I was driving on a dark and rainy night - an old man stepped out into the road, I didn’t see him – I killed him with my car. It’s called vehicular manslaughter.”

My father’s mistake stays with me to this day. His mistake, my lesson and you can bet I told my son about the day his grandfather killed someone.

Thanks for the post –
Caroline

Thanks for writing this one. I like the articles that people can relate to and certainly many laymen and women will be able to relate to this.

I loved your solution of finding a getaway and leaving the home for solace. I will keep priceline in mind… (and I didn’t realize you lived near me, maybe I’ll make an emergency call to you if such a thing ever happens with my teenage boys!)

Geri
Good News Network founder and editor

Exceptionally relevant article! This is one application of PP that has a true impact on suffering. I’ve always been a fan of Frisch’s QOL therapy and coaching. Like so many PP concepts, it has a pragmatic, familiar feel but is as groundbreaking as neutrinos and quarks. Here is something that can make a dent in the years of flatlined happiness in the USA, a real empirical measure of quality of life!

Well Done!

“The teenage brain undergoes a burst of neural reorganization so profound that it is only paralleled by the massive overproduction and subsequent pruning that occurred in late fetal life and early infancy. As puberty starts, the pruning of the frontal lobes, the seat of planning, judgment, and self-control, starts. Not surprisingly, those are the areas in which adolescents are least skilled. To make matters potentially more alarming for Mom and Dad, during the teen years frontal devevelopment is accompanied by a change in the brain’s reward and pleasure centers that makes “routine” less satisfying. This change spurs teens to push away from their parents and gravitate to their peers. It also encourages them to take risks. All of this makes good sense, from the point of view of evolution, for a creature preparing to find a mate who is not a close relative. ‘It has to do with getting kids to swim in the deeper end of the gene pool,’ White suggests.”

Well, that explains more than it doesn’t! Good luck getting through the frontal pruning!

Szalavitz, M. & Volpicelli, J. (2005). Paradoxical profile: Alcohol’s risks and benefits. Cerebrum, The Dana Forum on Brain Science, 7(1), 39-52.