What a gruesome exercise it must have been: Staff members at Howard County's Glenelg High School, grief-stricken by the death of a 16-year-old pupil and revisited by a sense of loss they'd felt before, flipped through old yearbooks to tally the number of students who did not live to graduate or died soon afterward.
Even if they had been looking at the entire history of the school and not just the past few years, their findings would have been difficult to accept. As it was, it was nearly incomprehensible. Forty-one students had died, many in traffic fatalities. The number is appallingly high and undeniable in its implications. The recklessness of youth snuffs out too many lives.
There is no way to compare Glenelg's discovery with other schools. Police do not keep such statistics, leading some to wonder whether the problem is isolated to a particular school. To believe that would be folly.
Nationally, traffic accidents related to drug and alcohol abuse are the number one killer of youths between the ages of 15 and 25. As many as 5,000 young people each year die this way. Glenelg is not alone in its pain.
The death of 16-year-old Christian Herrera in an auto accident along Route 32 nearly two weeks ago spurred the yearbook death count. The youth's father does not believe alcohol or drugs were involved, although police reported finding beverage containers in the car. A final report is pending. What is clear from the police investigation is that the teen was not wearing a seat belt and was driving recklessly.
More than 700 mourners filed into St. Louis Roman Catholic Church in Clarksville last week, including many Glenelg students saying good-bye to a friend.
Dr. Alfredo Jose Herrera pointed out that his son had signed a donor card when he received his license, and that as a result six ZTC people's lives were saved through organ transplants and sight was given to two more.
But young Christian will have left a greater gift, his father said, if others heed this message:
"He died because he was driving recklessly, because he was passing cars on the shoulder and mainly because he wasn't wearing a seat belt.
"All of you must learn from this tragedy and you will not only avoid an untimely death, but also you will save deep pain and sorrow to those you leave behind."