"The teaching of an accident"

I have always had an interest in helping others. Because of this, I took First Aids and CPR courses. Also, I took Mass Care and other courses that the American Red Cross gave to their volunteers to prepare them for helping people that are affected by emergencies. This need to help others began when I was in a car accident at the Aguadilla Mall several years ago.

When I was ten years old, I was with my mother, aunt, and two of my cousins. We were having an ordinary shopping day buying some things for the house. After shopping, we went to my aunt's van to return to my house at San Sebastían. Her van was a brand new green 96 Ford Windstar.

My aunt decided to pass through an area of Road Number 2 that was under construction. This road was a two way street where cars passed like if they were flying over the ground. At the moment that she decided to pass through the street that had holes and constructing barrels, there were no cars passing. My aunt, seeing neither danger nor a Do not Cross sign, carefully passed. Suddenly, a strong screech was heard from the left side. Immediately we hit the ceiling of the van, bumped into each other, and finally some of us hit the Windstar window.

We did not know what happened but when we got out of the van there was a red Toyota Corolla that was crushed on the floor, the hood was pushed back, and it was loosing the radiator water. My aunt's car was pushed six feet away from where it was. The people that saw the accident said that the Toyota got under the van and it threw us three feet away by moving it on its two right wheels.

My cousins, a young boy and his younger sister were fine, laughing and making jokes. My aunt, a retired health teacher, hurt her shoulder during the accident when she hit herself with the window. My mom seemed like in a trance; then she stared to cry talking without any sense. She was shaking and did not want anyone to talk to her but; she was concerned about our safeness. For this reason, she did not let me move nor talk because she thought that I could get hurt and that is why she stared to yell: "Don't move!", "Don't touch the van!", "Get inside!", and "Get out because it can explode!"

I tried to help my mom by calming her down and calling my dad using the police officer's telephone. With this experience, I learned that we should always try to be calm especially during emergencies for things to come out the best way as possible. Life is the greatest and most valuable gift we can have but, when danger is at our door we can lose control without knowing what to do. Desperation, can take us to the Land of Coldness where the angel of death waits for people to pass the boundary between life and death. Because of this, it is important to take courses like the one that I took because you can help save a life or even our own life.