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 While
waiting to see a doctor I overheard two teenage boys talking
about blood tests. One wondered aloud (and pointedly) if the
nurse would detect the alcohol in his blood; and the other
boasted that there was more alcohol than blood in his veins on a
recent Saturday night. He made certain all in the room could
hear his remarks, and wished, repeatedly, that he could be in
that condition now.
The
boys were “playing like” they were men, and deceiving only
themselves. Their very concept of “manly” conduct was so
distorted it was ridiculous, and further emphasized their
immaturity.
Then
the nurse brought a wheelchair patient into the office for
examination and X-Ray. He was another teenager, broken and
bloody as the results of an accident. He also had a companion,
and when the first two boys began to kid the injured boy about
being unable to hold his liquor the fourth boy was very serious.
“There is nothing funny about acting foolish,” he said; “and
a lot less funny to pull injured children from a wreck you have
caused. It isn’t funny to break your ribs, nor to destroy a
car you have worked hard to buy. Man, you’ve got a real queer
sense of humor.”
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That
did it! The first two laughed nervously, then grew quiet as the
injured boy was wheeled from the room. But the punch is yet to
come. When the room had settled back to normal I could hear the
first two boys resume their conversation — but softly now,
speaking only to one another.
“Is
Dick some kind of a religious nut or something?” one asked.
“Naw,
he’s just kinda shook up by that wreck,” the second replied.
“I told that kid (evidently the injured boy) he had no
business driving home. A guy is crazy to get full of beer and go
burning down the road.”
I
lost several minutes of the conversation here, but when it
picked up again the boys were telling one—another how some “kids”
never would grow up — and how some just tried to show-off —
and how they knew better!!
And
I got a warm feeling for the unknown young man who had “spoken
up” at a critical time, against odds, to effect changes in his
fellows.
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