Meet the Indestructibles!

They live among us, posing as average teenagers. You may have one or two living in your house and not even be aware of them. They have identifiable traits such as rudeness, crudeness, and disrespectful. Some may even smell, but don’t let them fool you.

All of that is just an act — a cover for their mission and who they really are. A teenager in your house and many of their teenaged friends are really The Indestructibles.

Their mission: to get behind the steering wheel of a vehicle and push the envelope of safety as far as they can.

Indestructibles have unique powers like making their parents get angry at the speed of sound. With just a single leap, they can jump to the most illogical conclusions.

Their x-ray vision can see right through any helpful advice parents have to offer and discard it without even a second glance. When they are with their friends, they have the ability to forget things at will. Like curfew, responsible behavior, and most important of all – wearing seatbelts.

The Indestructibles seem to have an incredibly complex mind which allows them to morph into multi-tasking machines at will. They can answer cell phones, text, twitter, and listen to music while driving around our fair county, paying close attention to all speed limits, stop signs, traffic lights, and watching out for all the other Indestructibles doing exactly the same thing.

Spring break for our town starts in a couple of weeks and all of the Indestructibles will once again flood our streets heading to the beaches, mountains or their secret hide-a-ways.

If you don’t know anything about the secret hide-a-way, there’s a reason. It’s a secret.

Indestructibles are really super at keeping secrets from their parents. Trust me, with three brothers and one sister, we did stuff my dad still hasn’t found out about. At least I don’t think he knows.

Before they fly off to destinations unknown, remind them that every super hero has a weakness, and you know theirs – reality.

Reality is that the Indestructibles are more likely to be injured or killed in an automobile crash than any other age group.

At first they won’t believe that such a thing could ever happen to them. Vehicle crashes and life-changing injuries happen to mere mortals, or at least to strange Indestructibles, not to them. After all, they are The Indestructibles and therefore cannot possibly get hurt.

Unfortunately in the last 23 years, I’ve looked into the face of many Indestructibles involved in horrific crashes. They are anything but immortal or invincible.

The most alarming thing is that the most severely injured all had the same thing in common: They weren’t wearing their seatbelt, the only thing know to man that can keep an Indestructible properly restrained.

Even though they seem impervious to logical thinking and argumentation — perhaps their greatest super power — somehow, the message of all concerned parents this spring break must get through.

Despite all of the arguments, heartache and worry they have caused over the years, we still want them to be safe, have fun and enjoy being young.

Just like we all did when our parents called us The Indestructibles.

Then, perhaps in about 20 years from now, they can have Indestructibles of their own to worry about.