Embrace Life

The last time someone tried to stress to me the importance of using seatbelts was my first NYC trip to the doctor in 2008 (because I didn’t understand my health fund, and therefore didn’t use my health insurance, the first year I lived here). The conversation came from nowhere, just like the decree that she wouldn’t perform a pap smear unless I was registered to vote. I kind of wished I hadn’t been registered to vote and didn’t think it was her place to say otherwise.

We sat in her office — which was more like a stuffy study, crammed with art work and books — and in addition to my family history, she grilled me on whether I wore a seatbelt in cars. I told her I didn’t take cars in New York (cab drivers had trouble finding my home in Brooklyn, so public transit wound up being easier, faster and much cheaper). She kept grilling me though. I told her that when I drove at home, I always wore my seatbelt, but I couldn’t absolutely confirm that every (rare) time I entered a cab (for a brief period) I was buckled up.

She proceeded to tell me different ways people were injured in taxi cab accidents. The one I remember most vividly was when the person in the back flies to the front, smashes the windshield and loses their teeth. She referred to it as “The Cup,” or something similar, because of how your teeth would all fall out together (maybe in the cup holder?).

I wanted to run out of the office right then. Somehow I made it through the rest of the visit knowing I would never go back to this woman.

So when my friend Matt e-mailed me a seatbelt public service announcement while we were on the phone last night, I wasn’t sure what could be so great about it. Let me tell you though, I was captivated from the first frame. I proceeded to stop talking, watch it twice, talk to him about how beautifully done it was, then could hear him watching it again, so then I started watching it again, and then we watched it again a couple times together.

Now it’s your turn to watch (for as many times as you feel necessary. Go ahead. I’m not judging).

Right off the bat, the music had me. If I knew what song this was, I’d download it from iTunes. The music perfectly conveys the almost lyrical movements of the family, especially when the daughter and mom reach around the dad. And the way he flew forward had me wondering what sort of stunt apparatus was involved to make everything look so realistic – maybe a trapeze or harness so that he could propel forward?

If it takes imagining the seatbelt as a hug from me in order for you to wear it, by all means, imagine away (though maybe it’s best for you to imagine it as hugs from other people, especially if we don’t know each other). Because believe me, you don’t want “The Cup” to happen to you.

SAFETY FIRST PEOPLE. BUCKLE UP.