I Have No Words!

I was driving Brian home from a dentist appointment today and we hit a lot of traffic. I let someone from a parking lot pull out in front of me. As he turned onto the road, I noticed a D.A.R.E. magnet on the side of the car and a D.A.R.E. license plate too! D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. They have specially trained police officers that go into to schools to teach kids about drugs and violence. Our town has a cool car that is painted crazy and all the kids love it. This car was just a dark blue and it was a convertible. The man driving it and the one riding with him looked to be in their late 20's or early 30's. They were not in uniform but had really short hair, and I thought they might be police officers.

So, he pulled out in front of me and gave a nod of his head to say thanks. As we sat in traffic, I thought I noticed something strange. I looked again and sure enough both of the men in the D.A.R.E. car were smoking! And since it was a convertible, there was no mistaking it! I know, cigarettes are not an illegal drug and the guys definitely looked of legal age for tobacco. But I was just bothered by the mixed signals they would be sending out to kids who saw this. Yep, we come into your school and tell you to "Just say no!" and then here we are smoking in a D.A.R.E. car for all to see. I may be overreacting a bit, but it made me really mad. And the truth is maybe they were not D.A.R.E. officers or even police men at that, but I think that they should conduct themselves differently while in the D.A.R.E car!