Shattered Dreams. (*May Be Triggering Due to Graphic Video*)

SheHasHope · 17-04-2010, 02:17 AM

So if you've been on http://www.recoveryourlife.com/forum...d.php?t=131407, then you know what I'm talking about. If not, let me explain:

Our school did a program called "Shattered Dreams", which is aimed to prevent death/injuries by drunk driving through realistic scenes and such of car crashes, students dying, etc.

I was part of the living dead, which is where we're called out of our class, a policeman reads our obituary to the class, and our faces our painted and we're placed around the school with our obituary. We can't talk to anybody.

After the car crash and the living dead, when school ends, we cleaned up and loaded onto a bus and we were taken to the hospital in downtown for a tour. It was incredibly emotional, and it really triggered me and got me depressed. To see all the trauma rooms (brain trauma, etc), and to see people dead except for multiple machines keeping them alive because their parents aren't ready to let go of them yet, is heartbreaking. To see naked men laying hopelessly alone in dark rooms hooked up to machines and casts and bags of crap hanging over them is heartbreaking. To see parents of teenagers laying by their side asleep or crying makes me want to reach out and give them a hug. The fact that they can't take death back makes me sick.

We then went back to our school and spent the night. Me and my boyfriend (who was the video editor) stayed up until 4:30 editing the video we were going to show at the funeral the next day. We didn't sleep much, and I stayed home today because I was so exhausted from it.

The next morning was the funeral. We had two, because our school was so large. There were two guys from jail that were locked up because of drug/alcohol related accidents. There were EMS workers, policeman, firefighters...telling of their experiences. There were parents of a student that was staged in the accident that made a very emotional speech that put half the students in tears, including myself. She said that even if we think we can drink and drive and be safe, don't, because putting a parents in that situation was traumatizing.

And the whole day was traumatizing. Seeing my boyfriend laying on the roof of a car, with blood over him and running along the hood made me want to run out to him, even though I knew it wasn't a real car crash. I still have to convince myself that it was fake. I don't un-believe it until I'm talking to him, or I see him. I had nightmares last night that we were dying. The hospital, the wreck, seeing people pass in front of me as I was the living dead, not being able to talk to my friends makes me tear up now. It's hard to believe how death can affect you. It's not just about drinking and driving. It's putting death into perspective.

Here's the video of the crash that I made:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeJVnBMa3IY[/ame]

If you have any questions about it, ask. I want to share my experience with you guys. Even though it was very emotional, it really opened a lot of people's eyes, including mine.

akita · 17-04-2010, 02:33 AM

Since it's quite graphic perhaps you should put a might trigger label on this. Good video though.

SheHasHope · 17-04-2010, 02:42 AM

Alright. Labeled.

I understand your feelings on this now. It was very graphic, seemed very real. This one poor boy who mentally "slow" didn't know it wasn't real, and a few boys were telling him it was real. So he went about an hour thinking his friends were dead.

But a lot of people were impacted positively because of the experience. It was very emotional, and for people like me it was triggering, but it had a good point to make, and for a lot of people it was made.

akita · 17-04-2010, 02:51 AM

We need that sort of thing to be taught in schools here in Australia because teenagers think they are invincible.

SheHasHope · 17-04-2010, 04:46 AM

It was very intense. I'm sure it changed a lot of people's lives.

Wakeful Dreamer. · 17-04-2010, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mystery of life

We need that sort of thing to be taught in schools here in Australia because teenagers think they are invincible.

I completely agree.

sajhfuahuefghaeg · 18-04-2010, 08:06 PM

Agree with mystery of life.

The One Who · 18-04-2010, 08:37 PM

I'd be interested in knowing exactly how well these programmes work, but I have my doubts. I know that the sort of thing we did (nowhere near as interactive, really) didn't get through and it was largely seen as a waste of an afternoon.

sherlock holmes · 19-04-2010, 10:03 AM

It reminded me a bit of the trick or treat episode (derren brown) where he got a woman to witness the aftermath of her own car crash and death.

He got a mask of her face made up and dressed an actor in the exact same clothes she was wearing. He hypnotised her/put her to sleep as she was waiting in her car and she was removed. A car identical to hers was driven in all crashed up and another car too that had been hit. The actor got into the driving seat and played dead.

The woman came to standing at the side of the road. She couldnt move, she was rooted to the spot, but she could see everything that was happening. She could see "herself" in the car. She watched as the ambulance arrived and stretchered herself out of the car. She was asking over and over what was happening but the actors were instructed to ignore her.

It's here if anyone wants to watch.

makedamnsure · 24-04-2010, 01:54 PM

I think its horrible to be honest.
My mum was killed by a drink driver so I have massively strong feelings on this. But at the same time I think staging a crash and having a "funeral" is just a bit sick. I'm a bit torn about the hospital visit. Yes, I think people need to see the effects of these things, but hospitals are distressing and those images of dying people will always be with you which I don't think is good.
I think it is just a bit ober the top. Perhaps just having a parent who has really lost his/her child to drink driving giving a talk would have been better.

SheHasHope · 25-04-2010, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by makedamnsure

I think its horrible to be honest.
My mum was killed by a drink driver so I have massively strong feelings on this. But at the same time I think staging a crash and having a "funeral" is just a bit sick. I'm a bit torn about the hospital visit. Yes, I think people need to see the effects of these things, but hospitals are distressing and those images of dying people will always be with you which I don't think is good.
I think it is just a bit ober the top. Perhaps just having a parent who has really lost his/her child to drink driving giving a talk would have been better.

I know what you mean. I haven't gone one day without thinking about those people in the hospital. The images are branded into my thoughts.

And there were many speeches at the funeral, one mother who did lose her child to drunk driving, as well as people from prison who were put in jail for drinking and driving.

makedamnsure · 28-04-2010, 03:36 PM

Quote:

I know what you mean. I haven't gone one day without thinking about those people in the hospital. The images are branded into my thoughts

Exactly. It is a lot to handle. You can never lose those images ever.
Having said that I think everyone who smokes should visit someone dying of lung cancer so I guess it is the same thing.

Asura · 28-04-2010, 08:45 PM

There's a guy dressed like the Grim Reaper in that video!

Very powerful video. Reminds me of that texting whilst driving PSA. Younger people need to see this kind of the thing because being told to be safe isn't enough. You have to witness it.

Staging the disaster is a neat idea. Though throughout my 4 years at highschool, several students really did die from drunk driving accidents.

The 666th Pope · 29-04-2010, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alithaven

You have to witness it.

i dont agree with that. my age group have grown up knowing its wrong so anyone who still drink drives is an absolute idiot, showing them this isnt going to change anything.

Asura · 29-04-2010, 07:13 AM

The times they are a changing. :]

I guess everyone at my school knew it was dumb, but they didn't comprehend the magnitude of what effect driving whilst texting, being intoxicated, etc. can have. Students would still drive drunk after parties, there was a student who died from impaired driving on prom night and so forth. Anyway, perhaps it's finally being understood that drinking and driving should not be mixed, but I think to a degree you can't grasp how serious it is without experiences such as this Shattered Dreams thing.

sajhfuahuefghaeg · 29-04-2010, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by control freak

It reminded me a bit of the trick or treat episode (derren brown) where he got a woman to witness the aftermath of her own car crash and death.

He got a mask of her face made up and dressed an actor in the exact same clothes she was wearing. He hypnotised her/put her to sleep as she was waiting in her car and she was removed. A car identical to hers was driven in all crashed up and another car too that had been hit. The actor got into the driving seat and played dead.

The woman came to standing at the side of the road. She couldnt move, she was rooted to the spot, but she could see everything that was happening. She could see "herself" in the car. She watched as the ambulance arrived and stretchered herself out of the car. She was asking over and over what was happening but the actors were instructed to ignore her.

It's here if anyone wants to watch.

I watched it and woah. man. she must have been scared shitless. i hope she changed her driving.

Putain · 05-05-2010, 02:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SheHasHope

...even if we think we can drink and drive and be safe, don't...

Yeah, this should be emphasised. It's difficult for a young/inexperienced driver to realise the extent to which their reaction times can be impaired by even a small amount of alcohol or another drug.

I have several decades of accident-free driving behind me. I'm a long way from being the most law-abiding person ever but i'll say this: even with legal levels of alcohol in your body, don't drive very far, and then do it carefully.

Scumbelina · 07-05-2010, 03:25 AM

Bloody hell. I am shocked you did this in school, it all seems a bit disturbing & I really feel for you about being in the hospital

The video was really powerful, I had to remind myself it was staged. What was the first dong? (It was on grays anatomy!)