Beckham County Student Resource Officer, Wendi Holland, arranged for area schools including Erick, Sweetwater and Merritt to participate in the Highway Safety Department’s Choices Matter program. Guest speaker Ethan Fisher shared his story about the struggles he faced with bad choices that caused him to turn away from college basketball scholarships and eventually spending time in prison.
His story has been featured in various publications that include radio, newspapers, podcasts, and television shows. His life’s mission is to help others in their journey to have a better life. As he told Merritt High School students his story, he confessed that each time he gives a speech, he must relive the past that continues to haunt him.
“I have sacrificed everything in my life for the last ten years to be standing on this floor with all of you today. In ten years of sacrifice, I have lost friendships, relationships, houses, cars, and nearly financial ruin to do this job that you guys are about to see. I hope you appreciate it because I put my heart and soul into this speech. And I do this for all of you. This whole speech is about choice,” Fisher said as he opened his talk.
He went on to talk about how each choice and decision that the students will be making will impact their lives and the lives of other people that they may not have met yet. He challenged them to think about every decision they make because it will impact their lives.
“I wish I could go back and be a high school student and start my entire life over. I can’t, but that’s why I tell the stories so that you guys don’t have to walk in my shoes. Now speaking of choice, did you know that 20 percent of the world’s population struggles with mental health issues? That’s one in five in this audience,” he said.
Fisher talked about how his wife asked him for a divorce because of his depression and struggle with mental health. He also told the students how he had faced suicide several times in his life, and how facing his fears has allowed him to speak to audiences everywhere.
As Fisher’s story unfolded, he told the students about each time he was given the opportunity to play college basketball, he made the wrong choices. He turned to alcohol and drugs at four different colleges. Fisher was the only one in the United States to play college ball at the ages of 28, 29, and 30. This was after he spent three years in prison.
“Prison is scary. Like I tell audiences all the time, I’ll go back to prison in a heartbeat. I’ll do another three years, five years, ten years in those prison cells if I can take back what I did. I can’t. This is life. There’s no rewind button, there’s no pause. The moment that each and every one of you gets up and walks out of this classroom, you’re faced with your choices. You’re faced with your decisions. I’m stuck with mine until the day I die,” Fisher said.
He then told the story that haunts him each day. He got in his car, drunk, and killed a man. This decision landed him in prison. Fisher wept as he relived the tragedy that he can never get out of his mind. He told the students that was why he told his story. He wanted to help others to make the right choices.
At the end of his speech, he was available to talk to students. They could use the drunk glasses to see what it was like to try to complete a sobriety test or use the simulator to demonstrate what it feels like driving drunk.
While Fisher shared his story of tragedy and hope, the impact he was able to make at Merritt will be long lived. It was an assembly that seemed to bring home what could happen with the wrong choices.
Merritt’s prom was Friday night. The hope was to make a difference in one person making the wrong choice this prom night.
