About 10 years ago a young person I know lost her driver’s license. One stop for having a joint in her car, one for blowing positive for alcohol. Bad teenage decisions. At 19 her license gone, and coming from a middle class family of six kids, and $1000 plus fines to pay, soon to be a single mom, no way to get to a job, there was no chance to get it back.
She went to rehab, drug counselors—held jobs at times steady
but eventually lost because she couldn't cobble together a ride or the bus was
late. She never had another problem with
alcohol or the law, but the process to reinstate a driver’s license is beyond
daunting—punitive. She tried once, and
after all the paperwork, fees and interviews was rejected. Vowing to herself there’d never be hope of
car independence, she became a master at recruiting others to help get things
done for her single mom family grown to four now.
As of four days ago she’s driving legal again after all
these years. She took courage to redo
all the legal and paperwork steps that attested to her good record during the
past ten years. We helped by hiring a
lawyer. It took over a year, with having
to wait on the MI Dept. of State four months, even after perfectly blameless
paperwork and testimony had been submitted.
The costs are over $2000 dollars, including an interlock system
[breatholizer linked ignition] which had to be installed in the vehicle we’re
lending her for the next year of her restricted license.
.bmp)
But the benefits are priceless. She can now begin to believe, with the father
of two of her children, that there is a way up and out. He now lives with her in their own place
taking care of all the kids while she begins to go to work again. And he is pushing to clear up some minor
legal issues which have stood between him and a regular job.
She is very grateful.
It’s as if some of the clouds in her life have been starting to
break. Keep her family in your prayers.
I know there are people who should never be allowed to drive
a car because they can’t handle alcohol.
I know some of them personally.
She is not one of them. There
should be a common sense affordable way for those who've made minor mistakes to
retrieve their driver’s license, and with it their dignity in the community,
and the chance to make a decent living.
After we've lived on into adulthood, all of us have in
different ways “lost our licenses.” We
get back on the road only by the redeeming grace of Jesus, and those in our
communities who act with the merciful love Jesus teaches.
Father forgive us all; we know not what we do. The world is not made of unlimited
opportunity.* The bad decision today has
life altering consequences. Salvation
lies in God’s unbounded mercy which means we can, despite our shortcomings,
live on into some good future, even the eternal happiness we’re promised.
Blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy -- Mt 5:7
Illumination by Kathy Brahney
*Pay attention! Your life is not an endless series of open doors! Listen to your heart. -- Pope John Paul II speaking to youth
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