When will it be your turn?
When will it be your turn? When will the Reaper knock on your door, put out his hand and demand his payment. One day you will stand before him for that payment. For decades I have been riding my motorcycle around the country. I’ve experienced a ton of stuff. I’ve been to a lot of events, traveled countless miles, and met incredible people. With all of this, I’ve experienced great joy but recently, I’ve also experienced horrific life-altering sorrow.
Over the years I have spoken many times on a topic that I’m sure many of you are tired of hearing about. Tough. Suck it up because here it comes again. We live in stressful times. With many of the readers of this page being bikers and whatnot, we like to party a little. Sometimes a lot. Men in particular, like to be in charge. Drunk men sometimes demand being in charge.
Sometimes those drunk men have passengers that ride with them. That’s a problem. Many times at the party or after the party, the rider seems to forget one very important detail. That passenger with them, the one they claim is theirs or that they’re just giving a ride to, relinquishes control of their life and turns it over to the drunk rider the minute they get on the back. That is the ultimate responsibility anyone can be given. Being put in control of whether someone lives or dies. Why? Please, someone, tell me why you would risk that other person’s life for vanity, control or just stupidity.
Riding impaired; being drunk behind those handlebars is a stupid move. If you want to kill yourself doing stupid stuff like that, it’s your right. It’s your life. You don’t have the right to decide for that passenger.
So if the rider is impaired, then why does the passenger get on and leave with them? There are many reasons for this from what I hear. Fear of being stranded, fear of conflict with the rider if he or she doesn’t get their way. Love for the rider or trusting that the person wouldn’t put their life at risk. After all, we’ve all said “I’m fine, I only had a couple.”
Where is all of this going? Well, here is the hardest truth I’ve ever had to stomach. The beautiful young lady in the picture on this page is that hard lesson. Her name is Mari Eliseuson. She is also how I can tell you with all my soul firsthand what it’s like to lose someone so very close to you. It’s like having everything seen and unseen in your body ripped out. She got on the back of an impaired rider’s motorcycle at a local establishment. Someone she had known and trusted. On their ride, he was speeding, lost control of the motorcycle in a turn and went off the road, killing her at the scene. His ass is on ICU. He had a responsibility to her and he failed. He killed her. Period. No traffic, dry road, no deer, just plain old stupidity that resulted in the senseless death of a beautiful person who put her trust in him.
What those impaired people never think of, alone or with a passenger, is of all the family, friends and acquaintances who are left behind to cope with what’s happened. I can tell you that this has affected my life and will until I expire. Don’t do it. Don’t drink and ride, but if you do (and I’m saying don’t), leave that back seat empty. Care enough to get that would-be passenger home safe some other way. Just remember that if you don’t make it home, all those people you have left behind will have to go through what I am right now. Grieving is the worst feeling in the world. Trust me, I now know.
In closing, all I can say now is directed to Marin’s spirit. Rest now, my sweet Angel. You’ve changed my life in so many ways and I will always cherish that. You were my salvation. I’ll always love you.
—Nefarious James