Do not let Gaius Vaenuku, Polo Manukainiu and Lolo Uhatafe die for nothing. The deaths of these Euless football players should help save other lives.
Three teens from our town of Euless, the town where my wife and I have done most of our ministry and where we attend church, died in a terrible rollover crash on Monday (technically, we live in Irving, but our hearts reside in Euless). So those three teens, Keio, Polo and Lolo die in a terrible crash. None of them were wearing seat belts. The pain and the hurt of Euless students was so evident this week as seen in the vigils, TV interviews and tweets.
Three days after the deadly crash and one day after three memorials were held for the teens, many kids in our youth group went to Oklahoma for a wonderful time of service to tornado victims. How many of them wore their seat belts? From what I heard, many of the kids never wear their seat belts on such trips. That may have been okay in the past, before some of their classmates or former classmates died tragically in a rollover crash, but now, things should be different.
The chance of a rollover in a church bus like the one our kids were traveling in are higher than when traveling in a mini-van. The chances go up higher for such a church bus when there are more than ten occupants. Deaths in such crashes occur for 80% of those who do not wear seat belts.
I’m not always a fan of the federal government, but they have issued a safety warning for church buses like ours. They say among many other things, to have all passengers wear seat belts. I couldn’t agree more. Churches have even been encouraged by some organizations to create church van and church bus policies like mandatory seat belt usage.
As for me and my family, we will make sure to use our seat belts on our long trips. No longer will I take long trips and slip off my seat belt when I sleep. No longer will I take a trip and begin traveling without being well rested. Will those two things make trips a bit more difficult? Sure, but it’s worth it for my family and for the sake of the memory of Keio, Polo and Lolo. There’s no reason why these Euless teens should die in vain. If their deaths can serve as a warning to others to wear their seat belts and not to drive drowsy, then their deaths will have accomplished something great!
My prayers go out to the families and friends of the three lost members of the Euless community. I encourage all churches, including ours, to please get to work on church bus and church van seat belt policies immediately.
P.S. A friend and I from church were able to go to the funeral service held at Trinity High School tonight for Keio. I found out about it a bit late (actually after writing this blog post) and we only caught the last 50 minutes. It was very touching. Afterward, I was able to thank Keio’s Uncle Junior for allowing the public to celebrate Keio’s life along with family and friends and I offered condolences from our family. I saw at the end of a tribute video the words, “Ofa atu Keio.” I didn’t know what those words meant and had to ask. “Ofa atu” means “I Love You” in Tongan.
RIP Keio…