Paddy's death should not be in vain!
This is a time of year that almost tastes of strawberries and sunshine yet, for many families, its summery ambience is tinged with sadness. No matter what else happens in life, the summer hols will always mark a tragic anniversary for Paddy Higgins’ family, in Winnersh, Berkshire. Paddy was the handsome young 16 year old who died at the end of an evening’s revelry in Cornwall, celebrating the end of his GCSEs. It all happened last year, but we’ve all been reminded of its poignancy again, as the inquest has only just concluded. Paddy’s father, John, who’s a Teacher at a school in Bracknell, said he hoped people wouldn’t simply remember Paddy for the fact that he had drunk too much. Quite right. What came out of the inquest was that Paddy was a good friend, a popular and talented youngster who simply did what all kids want to do nowadays – go a bit crazy marking the end of exams. We parents shudder when we think of Paddy’s death – and hold our own teenagers closer. Yet we cannot cotton ball them. As a mum of four boys, who also knows the agony of losing a child, I look at the pictures of Paddy’s face and ask what we can learn? Why is it that our whole society judges a “good time” by its level of drunkenness? Can we teach ourselves, and then our kids, to respect the power of alcohol, and cut down our intake? Or do these mistakes happen in every generation? I lost a childhood friend because of drink. She was celebrating the end of her exams, and fell into an icy river. My sister lost a best friend when she was involved in a drink-induced car accident. All in the summer, at the end of exams and just as the future is looking so full of promise. It’s such a waste. I was once told to make sure I never let my son’s death become bigger than his life, and that’s what Paddy’s family will cling to over the coming tortuous summer months. They must remember the charming young man with the mop of blonde hair and the winning smile, the life not the death. We, however, owe it to them to try and learn from his death and ask if there isn’t more we can do. |
