Did you ever have a brain freeze?

 

You know, like when you know that you know the answer to something or you intuitively know that something is wrong or is going to happen but you go ahead and complete the action anyway and then second guess yourself for not following your gut?

 

Here is one I think we can all readily relate to that will illustrate my point.

 

You are standing outside your car and grabbing all of the things you know you want to carry back into the house with you as you exit the car.

 

Okay I’ve got my wallet, sunglasses, diet Coke, the mail, my PC, my cell phone, my brief case, it’s a windy cold rain driving down, I’m tired from the traffic and the stressful day at the office, I’ve pushed the button to lock the car doors and I just know something is wrong.

 

Despite my intuition nagging me that I should not push that door shut; in fact I almost KNOW I left the keys in the ignition, but I shift my weight into the driver’s door and in almost a slow motion sequence of events I watch that stupid door slowly narrow the gap between open and shut.

 

Both arms are way too full of way too much stuff and it’s all starting to slip because it’s getting wet and I’m cold and I’m tired and I know I should lunge toward that ever narrowing opening with my foot or my hand or my briefcase or those expensive sunglasses, but in slow motion I just watch helplessly as my keys do in fact get locked in my car.

 

Then, after the requisite swearing and lamenting about not following my gut and saving me from my own stupidity, I angrily march into the house to let my wife know what a disorganized moron I am.

 

She makes it all better by assuring me with enthusiastic alacrity that she has known long and well what a moron I am and is happy to enumerate many more of my non-redeeming qualities as I choose to invoke one of my better ones which is tuning her out completely while she follows me throughout the house blathering on about it.

 

While I am scouring the house looking for that second set of keys with my external conscience in tow all the way, my male survival mode starts to also fail me a little bit and I hear the occasional phrase or two penetrate my auditory armor.

 

“I told you we should have made an extra set of keys the last time you lost your keys, which by the way we have never yet found!”

 

 “Do you HAVE to swear like that?”

 

Now I’m not saying that swearing is good or that I should continue to engage in it’s perfection, but there is this thing called the teachable moment, and this ain’t it!

 

It’s kind of like Marty in those “Back to the Future” movies in that you wish you could go back in time and change the sequence of events that led up to your current dilemma and replay those sequences or basically take a mulligan on that aspect of your life.

 

Now for those of you know it alls who think that I want to go back in time and change my marriage or my spouse who is nagging me about the swearing, you are absolutely wrong!

 

I might want to just go back and trust my gut and not lock my only remaining set of keys in my car, but actually at DriveCam we get to reach into the past to alter the future every day and our reward is saving a life or at least damage to the person and the vehicle.

 

A great story came in just the other day with just the right teachable moment.

 

A teenage girl enrolled into the Teensafedriver program on January 5^th of 2008 and we began getting some videos of some of her risky driving habits. As we scored the events and posted them onto the web for her parents to deliver the teachable moment to her, we noticed a pattern of her and her friends not always using seatbelts.

 

Now most parents and almost every adult I speak to thinks that wearing seatbelts is a non-negotiable issue and in fact don’t believe that anyone, let alone their own properly raised child in a swearing free household, would even think of not wearing a seatbelt.

 

In fact during the week days, a teen driver dies every other hour of every day behind the wheel and on weekends it’s one teen death per every hour of the weekend and 66% of those were not wearing seatbelts.

 

Anyway, this particular set of parents took note of this behavior and sternly told their daughter that if she or any of her passengers were ever seen not buckling up again; she would lose her driving privileges.

 

That got her attention; in fact you could say it was a teachable moment.

 

On January 20^th 2008 this girl lost control of her car and rolled it 2 ½ times and both she and her passenger were wearing seatbelts which were credited with having saved their lives! Now that is the real teachable moment and it is a lesson neither girl will ever forget.

 

The two of them walked away from the wreckage with only the passenger having a headache!

 

Behavior patterns are in fact patterns and if you can see them before a tragedy occurs, you can sort of go back to the future to alter the events which can change lives.

 

It’s not spying and it’s not big brother; its just watching your child reach out to touch the hot stove and saving them from burning themselves or others.

 

Please don’t let those teachable moments be at gravesites.