Accidents Happen Sometimes For The Best

 CLEVELAND - Most people don't realize that tragedy is sometimes essential in order for us to improve our understanding or facilitate positive change in the world.

Take the Challenger Disaster for example.

The Challenger was a NASA operated space shuttle that embarked on an historic voyage into space, sending the first ever school teacher, Christina McAuliffe, into space. But on January 28, 1986, 23 years ago today, the shuttle exploded into a million pieces just 73 seconds into its ascent, sending all seven passengers aboard to their deaths. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the central coast of Florida on national television.

It was very depressing and sad.

The world mourned heavily and the Reagan Administration launched an investigation of the tragedy and what caused it. The space program went on a 32-month hiatus to essentially regroup and gain a greater understanding of the potential flaws in space shuttle launches. I was one of many children across America that viewed footage of the event in school (I was a nearly nine year old third grader), and will never forget it.

Exactly 20 years later, I had a personal disaster.

On January 27, 2006, I did one of the dumbest things ever. As I watched a basketball game on television, I drank an entire six pack of beer. I also had about three or four mixed drinks before hopping into my girl's vehicle and driving myself to a bar, approximately 10 miles away. While at the bar, I met up with my cousin, who lived only a few blocks from the place.

I drank even more at the bar.

By the time the bar closed at a few minutes past 2am, I was three sheets to the wind times a hundred. I was dizzy and had little use of my motor skills. This was as a result of my drinking at home, plus four more beers and three more mixed drinks at the bar.

It was now January 28, 2006.

Long story short, I drove my cousin the couple blocks back to his house, while he repeatedly offered me the opportunity to "sleep off my liquor" there. I declined his offer because I wanted to drive another 12 miles west to get food from one of my favorite chicken and rib joints.

No other place would suffice.

I ordered my food ahead of time, picked it up and got back into the car to drive the 20-plus miles back home. Problem is, I don't remember anything past getting on the freeway until I was on an entirely out-of-the way and different highway, going in a drastically off course direction.

Then the police pulled me over.

I felt as though I had just regained consciousness while driving on the highway, but my surroundings were very unfamiliar. I saw the flashing lights in the rear view mirror and then pulled over.

The cops told me that they stopped me because i was driving only 35 mph on the 65 mph highway which was odd. They asked me to submit to a couple roadside sobriety tests which I did and failed miserably. They asked if I had been drinking and I responded by saying that I'd only had one beer.

Yeah, okay.

I ended up being hauled off in the cop car while my girl's vehicle sat abandoned roadside with my delicious and untouched food in the passenger seat. I phoned my girl and left her a voice message (it was nearly 4am by now), was given a voluntary breathalyzer test (which confirmed my legally drunk status), then put in the slammer and fell into a drunken sleep.

When I awoke, it dawned on me how bad I'd messed up and how selfish it was of me to put my life in jeopardy that way. I was both contrite and grateful that I wasn't killed or even in an accident and killed someone else. My girl bailed me out and I couldn't apologize enough. All told, this stupid transgression cost us thousands of dollars, but actually could have been worse.

I got my first ever DUI and ended up spending 72 hours in a confined hotel Drunk Driving program, which taught me a great deal. I also attended another similar program and both were incredibly sobering. I learned a lot about how tragic drunk driving can really be.

The moral of both these stories is simple. The families of the Challenger disaster undoubtedly wishes that it never happened. I often wished my DUI never happened. But considering the great lessons (and improvements in the space program) learned as a result of these awful events, they actually had to happen. It may be only a coincidence that my scenario occurred exactly 20 years after the Challenger, but the correlation is clear, at least to me.

Thank God for the troubled times, for they are designed to strengthen the future.