Midterms are coming up, which means that people will be busy studying. After mid-terms, I’m sure that people will be ready to celebrate that they’ve made in through half the semester and survived. I just wanted to remind everyone to be careful while celebrating.

Every year, many people die because of stupid decisions other people make that inadvertently put lives in danger. I’m not saying to not celebrate and party, but to use your head when going out. If you’re going to drink, plan on finding a way home or crashing at the party.

Growing up, my momma wouldn’t let me go out on Fourth of July, Super Bowl Sunday or any holiday where she knew that people would be drinking. I used to think she was being overprotective, but now I understand that she had real facts to back up her real fears. A statistic from www.alcoholalert.com says, “Approximately 275,000 persons are injured or disfigured yearly by alcohol-impaired drivers. One third of these are children.”

I know we’ve all heard the statistics of people dying in car accidents where the person behind the wheel was drunk, so I’m not going to list them here or I’ll need the whole Viewpoints page. Just remember, people drink and drive and people die. Yeah, you might think, “That’ll never happen to me.” Everyone knows the law that says, “If something can go wrong, it will.” Do you really want to tempt fate?

I’m not one to preach, but if you drink, and if you’re ignorant enough to drive, there’s a damn good chance that you’ll have to deal with the guilt of adding to the number above. Do you want that on your conscience? I didn’t think so. I know that I have too much stress as it is with Spanish 222 without having to deal with that.

I know some people at UTM don’t drink. To you, I’m saying to just be careful and be aware of your surroundings. If you’re behind a car that’s swerving all over the road, call the cops. Yeah, the idiot behind the wheel will be ticked at being pulled over and getting a DUI, but I think he rather have a DUI than being charged with vehicular homicide. I bet a 20 that the driver doesn’t want to go to prison, only to become Bubba’s best friend on lonely nights.

And for all that’s pure and good, know your limit! I doubt that anyone can drink a case of Bud Light, a fifth of Jack Daniels and a gallon of Tequila in one night. Why would you want to drink that much to begin with? If I’m going to party and have a good time, I want to remember it the next morning.

Besides, if you drink your weight in Southern Comfort, you’re going to puke, and liquor burns when it comes out of your nose. Trust me. And no one wants to hang out with the person who stinks of liquor and is wearing the contents of their stomach on the front of their shirt.

Go ahead, raise your Strawberry Daiquiri to sky and make a toast of getting through the first half of the semester without any major crisis. Just don’t raise too many glasses. I’m waiting for comments that say, “Thanks for the warning, Mom,” but I’m serious. When you go party over fall break, be smart and be careful. The last thing I want to do coming back from fall break is to write a student’s obituary for The Pacer.