I hope I’m worth more.

I hope I am worth more.

More than an “Ok.” text. More than a scroll through your Facebook newsfeed. More than a tweet about stupid traffic. More than a Snapchat of you driving. More than it all.

I hope I am worth more.

I spend almost two hours a day driving to and from work. Two hours a day, I put my life in others’ hands. Two hours a day, I put my cell phone away because the lives of others are worth more.

The man passing me in the blue Ford is paying more attention to his phone than the road. I noticed as he hit the rumble strips and quickly looked up to see where he was driving.

The young woman in the white car is too busy Snapchatting to realize how fast she is going.

This girl.. this boy.. this man… this woman…

The list goes on and on.

When did we let our life be worth less than a text message? A Facebook post? A Snapchat? A tweet? A few minutes spent surfing social media? An Instagram pic of your drive home?

When did we let the lives of those around us be worth less than all of these things?

“We didn’t,” you say. Oh really? If my life is worth more than a text message, then why are you texting and driving?

I can make the decision that my life and your life are worth more. I can choose to drive without distractions.

But you did not make the same decision.

You choose to text and drive. You decided that your life is not worth more than a text. But you also decided that my life, and the lives of all the drivers around us, are not worth more than that text message as well.

How can you not see that? Every time you choose to text, or Facebook, or tweet, or Snapchat, or check your email, or do anything else that causes you to drive distracted, you are putting more value on that action than the lives of other people.

Sure, it seems like a simple text. A simple post.  A simple photo.

But doing one of those “simple” things while driving can cause a terrible tragedy.

Is it worth it? Are we worth so little?

I hope that we are worth more.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness month. Thank you to all of you who realize the tragedy that can come from distracted driving. Our lives are worth so much more, and I hope you pledge to drive distraction free.