Matthew Cordle certainly appears sincere and remorseful as he tells the world he killed Vincent Canzani in this video that has gone viral in recent days. And true to his word, Cordle surrendered to authorities, showed up in court and pled guilty. My prayer for him is that he presents his confession to God and that he receives full forgiveness for what he did.
But if he does, that will not relieve him of the need to pay the price for what he did, and the price will quite rightly be steep. Here is his confession, via CNN(scroll down for video).
I want to challenge the prevailing way that Americans think about drinking and driving, because even within Cordle's sincere confession, there is a hint of it. Drinking and driving is not a "mistake." It is a willful act of evil. You can argue that most of the people who commit this act are not evil people, but that's irrelevant. Everyone with even the slighest hint of brain activity understands that driving a car while intoxicated puts the lives of others at risk. The drunk who gets behind the wheel anyway is simply making a decision that he does not care, because the hassle of finding another way home is too much of an inconvenience to endure for the sake of saving the lives of others.
To be sure, the decision to drink and drive is made at a time when your judgment is impaired, and you could argue that the same person would never make that choice when sober. But it was a sober person who decided to get drunk.
Cordle got behind the wheel and killed Canzani after a night of bar-hopping. That was his choice, and America's culture encourages that behavior at every turn - from the bars to the alcohol manufacturers to the entertainment and sports industries who depend on their advertising dollars, and are willing to encourage the thinking that good times means drinking.
Telling people not to drink and drive is worthless. Everyone knows they should not drink and drive. But once they are drunk, a sizeable percentage of those who know this will go ahead and do it anyway. Even if a first-time DUI resulted in prison time, which I believe it should, I doubt it would make a difference. Until people are willing to refrain from drinking, and find other ways to enjoy themselves, more people will end up like Vincent Canzani.
It is too his credit that Matthew Cordle has owned up to what he did, and is prepared to accept the lengthy prison sentence he absolutely deserves.
Don't want to end up like him? Don't want to kill another human being? Find a way to enjoy life that does not require you to alter your brain chemistry. It's really not that hard. You can say my position is extreme. And I agree. It is an extreme improvement over the way the culture does things today.
