The Opportunity to Make One Second Count

One second may be the only the barrier you face between life and death. As I was surfing the web recently, I came across a powerful blog called One Second written by Alison, a woman widowed by a drunk driver. She is the mother of three daughters and she is on a mission to raise safe driving awareness. It only takes one second to make a choice that will lead to safety or recklessness. In her One Second Installations, she engages participants in a way that challenges them to think new ideas and to create momentary experiences that stick with them to encourage safe driving.

Her latest blog post tells about a recent One Second Installation. She and her crew brought a steel hospital table and a body bag to the Surf Club one evening. At the Surf Club she offered people the opportunity to be zipped into the body bag by their friends. Although everyone was interested, nobody volunteered. So she waited. Two hours later after the crowd had some drinks at the bar people started to volunteer. There was nervous laughter as people repeatedly made sure that their friends would unzip them after a second in the bag. An hour later, fortified by even more alcohol, people were having a good time being zipped in the bag and then unzipped. Alison was afraid that the point of the exercise was being lost. This was not supposed to be a fun event. Rather it was supposed to be a wake up call about 1) what it feels like to be in a body bag 2) trusting one’s friends 3) consciously making choices. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Opportunity to Create Reunion

Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High SchoolThis weekend the members of the class of 1969 at John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview, NY got together for our 40th reunion. Unfortunately, I was not there and judging from the pictures I missed a wonderful event. I chose not to go for several reasons. However, the primary reason was that I was just back in NYC in June and I will have to go back again this fall. I felt that three trips back east in such a short period of time was too much. As it turned out, I got to see several people here on the west coast before they left for NY. I told them to take lots of pictures which they then generously posted on facebook.

My dear friend Jan whom I’ve written about in prior entries here and here visited me this past weekend. We met during our freshman year of college and have been close friends ever since. In 1971, Jan transferred to another college for the remainder of her education. I frequently visited her there and became friends with many of her new friends. One woman in particular named Deb was especially fun to be with and very smart. I would spend time with her whenever I came to visit Jan. Although we have kept up with each others’ lives through Jan, I hadn’t seen Deb in probably thirty years. Coincidentally, Deb ended up being in town at the same time as Jan and the three of us had a reunion this past weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

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