"If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around."
~ Jim Rohn
This company, Stolen Blessings, was established in memory of my late husband and father of my precious little girl, Sean P. Sims. Sean was killed by a drunk driver on June 18, 2005. He was on his way to work..at Masterbrand Cabinets, Ferdinand Plant..with my sister on that horrible Saturday morning when a local 24 year old young man who had attended a graduation party the evening before the incident slammed into the passenger side of my sister's vehicle as she attempted to avoid him. He then proceeded to stumble out of his car, say to my sister (who had been able to crawl out of her van on Sean's side of the vehicle..where he was trapped) that this wasn't his fault. He then walked away up a country road and hid in a cornfield for some time before he, finally, went to a nearby house to contact his parents. The owner of the home contacted the authorities and allowed the perpetrator use their telephone to call his parents. This young man was not apprehended by police until several hours after the traffic incident yet even at that time, his BAC was 0.125%.
This person not only killed my husband that morning and injured my sister...both physically and emotionally..but he, also, forever changed the lives of many others. He changed my life, Sean's children's lives, Sean's parent's lives, Sean's extended family and friend's lives, my family's lives, and his life...along with, I'm sure, his family's lives.
The scary thing is that the person that did this is an intelligent person. He had just graduated college the week before the incident and had accepted a position as an elementary school teacher in another state..needless to say, he was not able to fill that position. He was intelligent enough to get a degree and be hired as a teacher directly after graduating college, but not intelligent enough to not get behind the wheel of a vehicle after consuming alcohol. He was not intelligent enough to judge when he had drank "too much" to drive.
The fact is, friends, it has NOTHING to do with intelligence. You can be the most intelligent person in the world; however, when you are under the influence..regardless of how much under the influence...your judgement is impaired and your reaction time is reduced...PERIOD. Yes, if you've only had a few drinks, it may not be reduced by much, but is it really worth taking that chance? Taking the chance of ripping someone's parent, spouse, child or loved one from them? Taking the chance of changing the course of your life...in a negative way...forever? I can assure you, it isn't worth it and I feel that it's time we start doing more to educate our young drivers on the realities and consequences of this deadly decision.
I have spent many years grieving and being bitter; however, I made a decision not to continue to feel hate or resentment in my heart towards the person that did this to my family any longer. That is not what my dear late husband would have wanted. I knew Sean well enough to know that he was a kind, forgiving man who knew that he had his own flaws. He was not judgmental and self righteous and he would tell you that he had made many mistakes of his own in his life...just as we all have. He would tell me to forgive this person..if for nothing else, for my own peace of mind..and do something positive by spreading the word to our local high school students about the dangers of driving under the influence; therefore, it is my mission to do so.
While I know that it is not just our young drivers that commit this senseless act, (because much to my dismay and disbelief, I know of a good many adult people that still drive under the influence that were close enough to me and my own personal tragedy to be greatly offensive to me that they continue to do this) I strongly believe that if we start by reaching them, we may be able to end this epidemic...or at least greatly diminish it.
With that said, the mission of Stolen Blessings states, "We will do all that we can to ensure people are educated on the risks and consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol." We, as a foundation, will draw awareness and raise funds for convocations with our local high school students. We will do everything in our power to assist in bringing victims and reformed perpetrators of these tragedies to high schools to share their experiences in hopes of preventing other families from experiencing this unnecessary loss.
While I am driven towards this goal by my personal experiences, this is not about me or really even about my late husband, Sean. This is about working to prevent tragedies of this nature from occurring, while honoring the memory of ALL the victims lost in these preventable incidents.
This person not only killed my husband that morning and injured my sister...both physically and emotionally..but he, also, forever changed the lives of many others. He changed my life, Sean's children's lives, Sean's parent's lives, Sean's extended family and friend's lives, my family's lives, and his life...along with, I'm sure, his family's lives.
The scary thing is that the person that did this is an intelligent person. He had just graduated college the week before the incident and had accepted a position as an elementary school teacher in another state..needless to say, he was not able to fill that position. He was intelligent enough to get a degree and be hired as a teacher directly after graduating college, but not intelligent enough to not get behind the wheel of a vehicle after consuming alcohol. He was not intelligent enough to judge when he had drank "too much" to drive.
The fact is, friends, it has NOTHING to do with intelligence. You can be the most intelligent person in the world; however, when you are under the influence..regardless of how much under the influence...your judgement is impaired and your reaction time is reduced...PERIOD. Yes, if you've only had a few drinks, it may not be reduced by much, but is it really worth taking that chance? Taking the chance of ripping someone's parent, spouse, child or loved one from them? Taking the chance of changing the course of your life...in a negative way...forever? I can assure you, it isn't worth it and I feel that it's time we start doing more to educate our young drivers on the realities and consequences of this deadly decision.
I have spent many years grieving and being bitter; however, I made a decision not to continue to feel hate or resentment in my heart towards the person that did this to my family any longer. That is not what my dear late husband would have wanted. I knew Sean well enough to know that he was a kind, forgiving man who knew that he had his own flaws. He was not judgmental and self righteous and he would tell you that he had made many mistakes of his own in his life...just as we all have. He would tell me to forgive this person..if for nothing else, for my own peace of mind..and do something positive by spreading the word to our local high school students about the dangers of driving under the influence; therefore, it is my mission to do so.
While I know that it is not just our young drivers that commit this senseless act, (because much to my dismay and disbelief, I know of a good many adult people that still drive under the influence that were close enough to me and my own personal tragedy to be greatly offensive to me that they continue to do this) I strongly believe that if we start by reaching them, we may be able to end this epidemic...or at least greatly diminish it.
With that said, the mission of Stolen Blessings states, "We will do all that we can to ensure people are educated on the risks and consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol." We, as a foundation, will draw awareness and raise funds for convocations with our local high school students. We will do everything in our power to assist in bringing victims and reformed perpetrators of these tragedies to high schools to share their experiences in hopes of preventing other families from experiencing this unnecessary loss.
While I am driven towards this goal by my personal experiences, this is not about me or really even about my late husband, Sean. This is about working to prevent tragedies of this nature from occurring, while honoring the memory of ALL the victims lost in these preventable incidents.