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__________________________________
Jason
Bay
____________________________________________________
Part of being a teenager is learning
how to deal with peer pressure. I'm sure that just about
everybody has been offered alcohol by one of their friends,
but the true test is if and how you turn them down. I have
been offered alcohol on numerous occasions, and have turned
down the offer each time.
Personally, I disagree with under age
drinking. This is just my opinion, but I have many reasons
for it. I feel that there are better things to do with my
time than to go get drunk and party. There are too many
things to worry about while you're in high school. From
experience thus far I know that your senior will be the
busiest of all school years just because of all of the
college stuff that you have to worry about. Filling out
application after application can be a major drag. Why throw
away all of those opportunities by getting drunk with your
friends some night and getting in trouble for it? High
school students should be focused on what they want their
futures to be like, which hopefully isn't turning into some
drunk.
The most effective thing that
I have found against fighting peer pressure in general
is to not be around those situations in the first place. Why
even put yourself in a situation that can damage your
reputation and your eligibility for sports? The other
thing that I have found is that your true friends will never
pressure you to do anything that you don't want to do. I try
not to become close friends with anybody that I feel will
try to pressure me to do something that I don't want to do.
Yes, you will probably lose many friendships this way, but
those people probably weren't good friends anyways. If
there's one thing that I try to do, it's to make decisions
on my own.
Peer pressure is just some hyped up
word that has such a negative connotation because it's
usually used when talking about drugs or alcohol. Things
like this shouldn't affect you; make decisions on your own.
If you get into trouble, make sure you're accountable for a
decision that you made. Don't let your supposed friends talk
you into something you don't want to do.
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
A couple of years ago, my brother
and his wife got divorced. Since then, there have been so
many things going on with our family that hurts so much deep
down inside. It started out with my ex-sister in laws
cheating on my brother with some other guy (which was not
the first time); they met at a bar, which, at the time, was
the place that she worked. After the divorce was finalized,
she went off to do whatever she wanted to do, without a care
in the world about who she was hurting, or what was going on
with her kids (who are now four years old.) She was
into all different kinds of drugs and doing whatever she
felt like doing. This was extremely hard for me, because she
used to be my best friend, and now I feel like I hardly know
her.
Now, switching the view to my brother,
a little while after the divorce, he found another girl that
he started seeing. She lived with him most of the time, but
when she had too much to drink she would become extremely
violent. My brother was physically abused in this
relationship so many times, but he did not want to let her
go. There was one specific time I can remember when things
were going all right, but then at my brothers' house, his
girlfriend was there, drinking too much and getting
extremely angry with my brother for no apparent reason. She
kept calling him telling him everything that she was
breaking in his house. When my brother finally went home,
his house was completely trashed, broken glass everywhere,
and blood from his girlfriend walking on the glass without
shoes on. This is just an example of one of the things that
went on during their relationship. It was extremely hard for
us all to figure out what we should do. Eventually my
brother finally told her that he would not allow her to be
around until she stopped drinking. Since then, she has
stopped drinking and is living with him again.
There was one time that I was sitting
in my room and I wrote something to my brother after I heard
him and mom talking. It has been sitting in my journal since
then, I never showed it to him. This is what it
was:
I stood with my door open listening to
the faint voices of my mom and brother
The longer I stoop the colder I got. The colder my brother's
voice got.
My fingers turned numb from the cold air reaching me
again.
My eyes stung from holding back the unwanted tears.
"She can't find a job; she won't take a drug test."
My best friend, look what she has turned into.
I heard the door close and the mumble of my parents'
voices.
I walked into the bathroom and started the shower.
Washing all of my fears away; surrounding myself in the
comfort of the warm water.
But even then I couldn't get my mind off of him.
I imagined talking to him, hugging him, just being there for
him.
But there I was in this warm rain of comfort.
And there he was, standing outside in the wet, cold, dark
world alone.
My brother, this is my brother.
I can imagine being in his situation, wanting to give up,
wanting it all to be over.
He's strong, stronger than me.
When I step out, he's already gone.
I imagine a few years from now raising his kids.
It wouldn't be so bad.
But now, I want to yell, I want to scream, I want to cry, I
want it all to stop.
It's raining outside again, once tears of joy have become
tears of sorrow, anguish.
Disappointment floods the ground.
People keep saying things will be all right, they keep
saying life's so simple.
But they don't feel the emptiness, the hurt, the pain.
They don't see the tears when the rain has covered your
face.
This isn't how you planned your life to turn out.
But I love you and always will.
I know things are hard, but imagine heaven.
The rain will soon turn into sunny mists of raindrops.
You will spin around and around. Feel the pleasure of joy
again.
And God will be there, so proud that you made it through, so
sure that he loves you.
Giving your problems to God could be one of the hardest
things to do.
It may even seem impossible, like a finger length away from
being able to grasp.
So close, yet so far. I know, but please try. Pray, I know I
am.
I love you, and God does even more, never forget
that.
__________________________________
Jessalyn
Breen
______________________________________________________
My uncle was only thirteen when he was
diagnosed as an alcoholic. It took just one sip of beer to
get him hooked.
This sweet-faced, chubby boy named
Kevin was the youngest of seven children. His family was
raised Catholic. They loved him almost as much as he loved
them. It was customary to see Kevin playing hopscotch with
his sisters or racing on bikes with his brothers. He was a
good student and fair citizen.
Suddenly Kevin changed. He began
sneaking off late at night, driving without a license, and
stealing from his aunt and uncle's liquor cabinet. He was
addicted. He was obsessed.
Fortunately, his parents weren't
blind. They noticed Kevin's behavior and sent him to an
alcohol rehabilitation center. Unfortunately, their attempts
were futile.
Over the next three decades, Kevin
would check in and out of rehab centers twelve times. He
dropped out of school, and was unable to hold a job, friend,
girlfriend, or even sit through an AA meeting very
long. His family was exasperated. It seemed that everything
they tried failed. Even the threat of death could not cure
Kevin. In one instance, he entered the hospital facing a
zero percent chance of surviving, miraculously pulled
through it, and drank again within three weeks.
Today Kevin is in jail for crimes he
committed while under the influence of alcohol. I haven't
seen him for five years. Yet he still has influence over me.
After watching his life go to shambles due to alcohol, I
have vowed never to drink. I know that the risks are too
devastating. I know how much harm he has done to his family.
I hope that others realize that when they drink, they are
holding not only their own life in their hands, but many
others as well.
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
I have this friend...well, let me
rephrase that...I had this friend, his name was
Jeff.
Jeff and I grew up together, and from
playing capture the flag in the dead of night to swimming
for hours upriver, we always had a good time. Jeff had
always told me that he wouldn't let himself fall into a bad
crowd, and I believed him.
"I'm above that." He would tell
me...but now I know he was only trying to convince
himself.
It wasn't until our freshman year that
things went bad. We went to a couple of parties before Jeff
had his first drink.
"I earned it." We would tell
himself. But with every drink he took I could feel the fears
slipping away. All that we built between us became worthless
to him. I would try and talk him out of it, try to remind
him of what he had said years ago. Tried to remind him of
the vow he made to himself.
"I was stupid back then." He
would laugh to himself. "I never actually meant
it."
But I knew it was a lie.
I watched Jeff slowly go down hill.
Everyday I could see the brightness in his eyes grow dull,
until finally, I didn't look into those eyes anymore. I
could see Jeff standing there, laughing and talking, but I
knew that he wasn't the same person I knew all those years
ago. I couldn't even recognize him anymore. The Jeff I know
was dead...
It is that thought that scares me
most...Dead. Jeff was dead. I still blame myself that I
couldn't save him, that I couldn't remind him in
time.
It's my fault he died.
If he had never drank that night, then
maybe he would still be here.
Maybe the car would have stopped in
time.
Maybe my friend would still be
alive.
"We'll never drink" we promised
each other, knowing even at a young age what it could
do.
"We're smarter than that!" but we
weren't. I see now we truly weren't.
We were stupid kids.
I couldn't hold on by myself, and
shortly after Jeff's first drink, I took mine.
I was driving the car that
night.
I'm the one who couldn't turn in
time.
It's my fault he's dead.
Jeff paid for our mistakes, our broken
vows, with his blood. With his life.
And it's my fault.
__________________________________
Jake
Buehler
_____________________________________________________
My encounters with alcohol have been
limited throughout my brief life. I have never partaken in
becoming intoxicated at a party, and from the few times I
sipped the substance I have ascertained that the taste
simply doesn't suit me. My immediate family has no problems
with alcohol, and never did, sparing me the hardships of
living in a dependent household. However, I will not decline
to say that alcohol hasn't affected my life. My experience
with the true effects of alcohol come from being the
observer and watching from the furthest sidelines how
drinking can spread to form a much more vast, enveloping,
destructive umbrella than with a single individual. There is
a larger picture to alcohol's effects than tarnishing the
lives of the drinkers and even their friends and families.
It can work its way into the fabric of a school; of a
community.
For seven years of my life I lived in
an agonizingly small town in central Idaho. It was little
more than a wide spot in the road; a minor clearing of the
sagebrush and dust for nine-hundred people sprawled out
across the valley floor. Trekking across the desert for
nearly three hours was necessary to reach the nearest mall,
as well as the nearest hospital of any caliber. It was the
epitome of isolation, where the only sounds for miles were
the dry summer gusts and the muted hiss of wheel-line
sprinklers.
It didn't take long for me to realize
that there was very little to keep a youth entertained
during idle times. For many children there, life consisted
of schooling and ranch chores, accompanied by sports to fill
the free time for those not old enough to snatch one of the
scarce employment opportunities in town.
It was by the end of middle school
that most of my peers, many of whom I'd played basketball
and ran track with for years, started to fill the hollow
hours with episodes of getting plastered. At first it
started slowly, each realization of the commonness of
alcohol use in my fellow fourteen-year-olds being sparked by
incidental eavesdropping and awkward assumptions of my
knowledge of this 'fact' in my school. My freshman year was
when much of it came to light, and I started to see a path
towards irresponsible drinking behavior developing in a
surprising majority of my classmates. One by one I saw them
fall. A boy in my class periodically came to school bruised
and broken from combinations of a mild hangover and the
injuries inflicted upon him the night before. He also showed
up to a public benefit for an ill member of the community;
drunk and reeking of beer. Shortly after the school year, he
almost died of alcohol poisoning. The year progressed with
tales of intoxicated wrecks during the weekends and keggers
popping up in the remote reaches of the mountains. Had I not
seen the effects myself, I'm not sure I would have taken the
information to be as accurately presented. During finals, I
saw the first foreshadowing of the degradation that would
come to the school as a whole after I moved to Oregon. About
six members of the class above me had left campus during
lunch to go do shots of whiskey and didn't return on time to
begin their testing. Unfortunately, they did return
to school, and all six ended up vomiting all over their
exams before drooping out of consciousness.
I moved to the coast early that
summer, but kept in touch with some of my closer friends
there, as I still do today. As time went on, news came in
from my old home of how alcohol was eating away at the
vision of the town and school I once knew. A friend of mine
was thrown off the basketball team for giving drunken
comrades safe rides home; he had become guilty by
association. There were stories of kids breaking into houses
in search of liquor, vandalizing the school and other
properties while intoxicated, and multitudes of students
being suspended or expelled. As collectively the teenagers
of this tiny town accepted the notion that there was nothing
better to do than drink, almost the entire school became
loaded with problem drinkers. It began to take on a bigger
meaning when three quarters of the varsity boys basketball
team were dismissed, leaving an enraged coach and some
disappointed team members who had hopes of perhaps a
district or state title. It progressed until the alcohol use
was the norm and that almost all extracurricular activities
were hit by the discharging of members from alcohol. The
town lost faith in backing sports and the general importance
of the school due to all the problems, and the students, in
response sunk further into a lifestyle that had become
expected by every young person around them; that beer was
the only entertainment worthy in this dreary
place.
These conditions continue there today.
I occasionally check in on some of my friends through the
tool of MySpace, and see that alcohol has centered around
the lives of nearly every last member of my old class by
viewing pictures and reading quotations hailing the partying
scene.
I am grateful that I left, for the
power of peer pressure, especially in such a condensed
situation of little escape, is quite influential. I like to
believe that I am strong-willed and could stand up to such a
pressure, but I would not want to test it in that
environment. It would be very easy to start, being as how
the alternatives of keeping oneself busy were so limited,
and there would be no way possible to escape the pressure to
drink unless one could take themselves out of the school
system. Today I look back and can see the destructive
aftermath that alcohol has left on the lives of so many
students, and I am confident that I shall never take the
steps down that road.
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
I still remember that warm summer's
night as if it were yesterday. A brush fire had sparked and
was burning through the neighboring hills. My Dad and my
sister left to go check it out, and as a four year old, left
all alone, my imagination soon got the best of
me.
I ran upstairs and began to pack
everything precious to me away in a suitcase. No clothes, no
jewels...just my stuffed animals. They were my only friends
and to me, more important that something as silly as a
shirt. Tick, tock, the clock continued to tease me and still
no Dad. I panicked. The minutes passed like hours and I
began to fear that perhaps their way home had been blocked
off by the fire.
Suddenly, I hear a thump from
upstairs. It's my Mom and she's wasted. I can hear her
calling my name from the top of the stairs and I panic. I'm
only four, but I know she's drunk, and I know that she could
hurt herself. My imagination has taken over again and all I
can think of is my Mom falling down the stairs and breaking
her neck.
I call back, pleading with her to just
go back to bed, but she notices the panic in my voice and
wants to help me. She doesn't understand that the panic she
hears is from my fear of her death. This time I scream at
her, but she still doesn't understand. I have to pull at her
arm for her to finally go back into her room.
I wander back to the front door,
wondering if my Dad is ever coming back for us. I think to
myself, that maybe this is how I'm going to die, and how my
Mom will die because I'm too small to help her. The warm
tears stream down my cheeks as I curl into a ball and just
wait. The clock ticked on for what seemed like an eternity
until finally they arrived home.
I spent many sleepless summer's after
that incident, lying awake in fear that another fire may
start. Nightmares of my burning neighborhood haunted me
repeatedly. I couldn't even sleep with a heater in my room
because I was terrified at the possibility of a spark
catching something. But most of all, it was my Mom's alcohol
abuse that scared me, because I know that she was drunk
again that night, and I didn't want to loose her.
My youthful years were full of fear
and worry; worries a child that young should not have to
deal with. I was forced to grow up a few years early, and
learned to wear a mask to cover the pain I felt inside. I
would never let my Mom know how unhappy my childhood was as
a result of her alcohol addiction.
__________________________________
Dee
Dee Christensen
_____________________________________________________
"Hey, who wants a drink?" "Oh
come on, just one drink won't hurt you. It's fun." "It's
cool. Everybody drinks, right?" These are examples of what a
peer might say to persuade you to try some alcohol. It's
called peer pressure. Kids feel the need to be included and
popular, therefore they accept the alcohol. Yet, what they
don't realize is that the choices they make today will
affect the rest of their lives.
Alcohol is a combination of fruits,
vegetables and grain that has been fermented. Fermentation
is a process in which sugars from food are changed into
alcohol. Alcohol has many uses such as an antiseptic or a
sedative. It is very useful in many products. Yet, drinking
alcohol is a depressant. It greatly slows down the central
nervous system and prevents some messages from reaching the
brain. It alters a person's vision, memory, perception,
movement and hearing.
Drinking small amounts of alcohol
results in a relaxed and calm state, but too much alcohol
can result in intoxication. People who abuse alcohol lose
their coordination, slur their speech and delay their
reaction time. Drinking and driving leads to hundreds of
deaths each year. When large amounts of alcohol are consumed
in a short time period, alcohol poisoning can occur. The
body has become poisoned by the amount of alcohol, and the
first sign is vomiting. Other symptoms include extreme
tiredness, unconsciousness, difficulty in breathing,
seizures and even death.
According to the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse, about 80% of high school
students have tried alcohol. Alcohol experimentation is
common in the teen years. Kids decide to drink because of
curiosity, to relax, the need to fit in, or to feel older.
Movies show drinking as all right, satisfying and glamorous.
Advertising messages show that drinking alcohol all the time
is okay. Parents are also a number one reason why kids try
drinking. They may have easy access to alcohol and their
parents act "cool" when using alcohol socially. Alcohol
seems harmless to teens.
Recognizing the dangers of alcohol can
prevent an individual from drinking. Teens believe everyone
else has tried drinking, but that's not true. Not drinking
keeps you healthy and out of harms way. Alcohol abuse can
lead to criminal records, health problems like obesity,
unwanted pregnancies, car crashes, homicides and even
suicide.
Resisting the temptation to drink will
pay off in the end. You may not be popular or have the same
friends, but not drinking will help you make better life
decisions. Research has proven that teens who exhibit good
decisions while they're young make better choices later in
life. Drinking can lead to bad habits. Participating in a
sport or acquiring a new hobby can take your mind off peer
pressure. You can meet new friends that share your view.
Deciding whether to drink is a personal decision that we
each eventually have to make. Hopefully we can all make the
right one, not to drink.
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
Another mindless, meaningless essay
that may score me some temporary publicity in the local
newspaper. Sweet. I can watch television, eat Hot Pockets,
file some tax returns, and write this essay at the same
time. And pick out my outfit tomorrow. Killer. All right,
let me just get out the assignment...and the $64,000 topic
is...oh. Oh, it's---it's...alcohol.
So this essay topic is a bit heavier
than the others. All right, who am I kidding, to me the word
alcohol is like a blow to the stomach. Just the word alone
brings back gut wrenching, fleeting flashbacks of my
abnormal childhood and the reminder that my family is
broken, my relatives are missing or dead, and my psyche is
permanently scarred...because of alcohol. Because of a
single product regularly distributed in Oregon, and
throughout the U.S., like it's no big deal; like it's just a
normal drink--in fact, an incredible drink, that enables you
to party like it's 1999 and never remember who exactly you
knocked up last night, or how ugly she was. An incredible
drink, than ruined my life...and I've never even tasted
it.
Going back to those days now is harder
than it used to be. After spending so long trying to block
them out, they've become sort of a blur of manic yelling and
being left on my own. My father left the house when I was 6,
and I was to stay here in Brookings with my mother...who,
which I wouldn't figure out for a number of years, was a
raging alcoholic. I know it's hard to understand, but when
you're little and an only child, and the only concept of
social interaction is your mother stumbling around the house
eternally screaming at you for no reason, you can't grasp
the concept of alcoholism, and things don't turn out right.
Don't get me wrong. I lived in a huge house, had lots of
pets, and friends would come over every so often to play
with me. I was well off. But it never really made up for the
fact that my mother was really the only person that I had in
the world, and she was never, ever there.
Bottle after bottle of white wine
would pour into glass after glass, and she and her friends
would be completely wasted by 5 pm. I would ask for things
or try to tell a story about what happened in my day, and
all I would get in response was a string of expletives or
complete ignorance coupled with unexplainable manic
laughter. I went on thinking it was completely normal, and
lay in bed ever night ignoring the sounds of breaking glass
downstairs and the rabid banging on my bedroom door late
every night.
But as I grew up, it got worse and
worse. Friends stopped being able to come to my house, by
their parents' orders. I couldn't really ask my mother to
drive me anywhere, for fear that we'd instantly wreck. So I
grew up one of the infinite amount of teenagers in Brookings
that are forced to raise themselves, because their parents
fall victim--or shall I say, choose to fall victim--to
alcohol. No matter how many times I screamed at her to stop
drinking, no matter how many jugs of wine I emptied into the
sink, there was nothing I could do, so I eventually gave up.
But it killed me; it killed me to go through ever day to a
virtually empty house crying myself to sleep knowing that
the incoherent, incompetent woman downing bottles of wine
downstairs might have actually been my mother
once.
What got me the most, though, wasn't
that she annoyed me to death. It wasn't that I'd come home
from school with my mother nowhere to be found, forced to
clean the puddles of blood from her theoretically self
inflicted injuries gathered around the house. It was that
she didn't know me, that she didn't remember what I did one
day to the next. The cool, exciting things that would happen
to me--and the worst. The sickest, most horrible things
could happen to me with her there, right in the room. And
she would never remember. And that--that is what I will
never forgive her for.
Despite the twisted nature of this
story, it does have a vaguely happy ending; a little over a
year ago I gathered up the courage to leave the house for
two months, giving my mother the ultimatum of getting clean
or forcing me to stay out forever. And she did it--she
sobered up, she joined AA, and she found a good boyfriend
who's part of the counseling office. I'm one of the lucky
ones--never did I imagine she'd gather the willpower to beat
the alcoholism, but miraculously, she did it. But it will
never make things right. I met my mother for the first time
a year ago when I came back home. Since then, it's been
strange...like living with a new roommate I thought I might
have seen once before. Living on my own has forced me to
become independent, and disregard any presence of a guardian
figure in my life. It's caused me to be quick to judge, to
take charge of situations, and hate anyone who chooses to
have their mind clouded by alcohol of their own free
will.
The drink has ruined my life. It broke
up my parents, it took my mother from me, my uncle from me,
and my aunt from me, and most recently it showed strikingly
similar effects in my ex-boyfriend's family. Which brings me
to the fact that nearly ever single teenager I know in
Brookings lives in a family seriously and negatively
impacted by alcohol. We all have our own horrible stories
about being left alone, or beaten, or put through horrible
dysfunctional situations. Leave it to someone who's usually
apathetic to tell you--to yell it in your face--that yes,
Brookings does have an alcohol problem. A very serious
alcohol problem. But if I can do something...you can
too.
_________________________________
Kristian
Demian
_____________________________________________________
Alcohol is a crazy thing. A lot of my
friends have started using it as I have gotten older. Some
starting as early as seventh and eighth grade. I can
remember telling them it wasn't a good thing, to stop and
wait until they were of legal age. Some listened, others
just turned their back and continued down the path of
drunkenness and self destruction. In high school it has only
gotten worse. Kids go and party all the time. When kids get
to partying, there is no limit to the things that go down.
Most of it probably wouldn't happen if they weren't under
the influence. That is the worst thing about it. When kids
drink, it is to get drunk, and that is when bad things
happen. Most are too immature to drink and not do stupid
things. I personalyy have never drunk. Not that I think it
is intrinsically wrong, but I have a bad enough time making
"the right" decision, I don't need the influence of alcohol
to further cloud my judgment.
I think that you should always try and
be in control of your actions. That is the only thing you
really can control in this world, and when you surrender
that, you are very vulnerable. That isn't a position I want
to be in. I don't have anything against alcohol, but I will
probably just wait until I can enjoy it without worrying
about "getting caugh." College will have a lot of drinking I
am sure but I will have no problem turning down even the
kindest of offers. I don't want to end up like all of my
"fallen souljahs," victims of peer pressure and finally
caving into the seductions of the fermented
fruit.
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
Alcohol is involved in many parties,
but there have been few that I know of where people have
been in harms way. Alcohol can cause people to do stupid
things, but it can also be the life of the party. It can
make girls pretty and get you in serious trouble.
Alcohol can be someone's best friend
when they are down or it can be something to relax them when
they are feeling stressed. I know many people that have had
a beer or a glass of wine because they like the taste or
need to take it easy. It has helped many people make friends
at parties because they have a common bond.
Many peoples' lives have also been
messed up by alcohol. I feel sorry for all those kids who
have been messed up by alcohol; such as people with Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome. These kids didn't have a chance to start
with. They have been affected by it before they have ever
been born or a chance to change.
Alcohol has ruined many families and
torn them apart. This is one of the big problems with it;
causing people to not be themselves. This is a major problem
with alcohol. At parties people are having sex and doing
things that they end up not remembering the next day because
they were wasted.
I believe that alcohol if used quietly
in ones own home isn't a problem. It is only when it starts
to affect other people, and ruin lives that something should
be done about it. I have a serious problem with people who
use and abuse the substance just to make themselves feel
good. In their own homes is fine as long as they don't beat
and mess up their family.
In conclusion alcohol can be used to
help people mellow out, to not do something stupid and hurt
others but it can have the opposite effect too. Alcohol if
used in an appropriate manner is fine and appreciated, but
it is those who misuse it that gives it the bad
name.
_________________________________
Mayra
Garcia
_____________________________________________________
In my life, I've been fortunate enough
to not have alcohol related problems in my family. My
parents do have an occasional drink after work, but they
don't get drunk. I think this has greatly influenced my
behaviors on alcohol because I don't drink and I don't let
all the pressure of drinking get to me.
The dangers of underage drinking are
tremendous and the number of underage kids drinking keeps
increasing. I already know of several 14 year olds that had
to be rushed to the hospital because of alcohol poisoning.
This is a problem that has to be stopped before it gets out
of control and I think the only solution is for the parents
to sit down and talk to their kids and to tell them the
extreme dangers and consequences of drinking that can take
your life and the lives of others.
Most kids my age can't wait for the
weekend to come so they can get ridiculously drunk. I'm not
one of those kids. When I get invited to go to drinking
parties, I courteously decline and tell them that I don't
drink. They usually don't believe me because I'm known as
being the crazy hyperactive one. My idea of a good time
doesn't involve alcohol or anything close to that. My
friends and I always have a good time whether it's hanging
out at someone's house playing video games or going out to
see movies and causing chaos in some arcade because we get a
little out of control because some of us are very
competitive and don't like to lose.
My greatest memories have been when
I'm sober and I want it to stay that way. I know that when I
get older I will still have my beliefs despite the many
temptations in college and in the real world.
The pressure to drink is everywhere.
From your friends, to advertisements on television. It's
your choice to ignore these pressures, or let them influence
you. I've made my choice, have you?
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
Hi, I am a seventeen year-old senior
at BHHS, and I have had to deal with alcohol for most of
life. Even though I have never drank, most of the
experiences have been sobering and will most likely keep me
that way for the remainder of my life. There is only one
that I am going to tell you about today, and so the tale
begins...
When I was four my mother married my
stepfather. He was the father of her third child, and she
hoped to provide a stable home and environment for all of
her family. He was a good man, at first, who taught me many
things. It wasn't until after his accident that he became
abusive. For four more years I endured his physical and
verbal abuse that were the result of his drinking and
remorse over the loss of his functionality to the family. I
endured to the very day that my mother divorced him, but the
story doesn't end here. In fact, it skips further ahead
another two years. For you see, my mother stopped all
visitation between my stepfather and my sister out of fear
that he would abuse her just as he did us. She said that it
was until he lightened up on the drinking and had a safe
place to stay. Finally that day came, but of course it
wasn't one of pleasure for me. I hated the man, but, for my
sister, it was one of joy. She loved her father and never
once had been hurt by him. I had to go along to make sure
that nothing happened with my sister. When we arrived at his
friend's house, where he was staying, everything was cheery
(he ever looked better than he did before his accident) and
my sister began to be with her father. The visit was very
nice. He had cut back on his drinking and was very
congenial. It wasn't until the trip back that things began
to get scary.
On the trip home he was so angry that
he had such little time with us and that he had to drive
three hours to bring us back that he began to drink. As the
trip progressed and he had drank more and more, his driving
abilities became impaired. He would drift into other lanes,
speed into merging traffic, and other terrifying mistakes.
When I finally had to turn the wheel to stop us from hitting
the dividing barrier on a sharp turn, I gave up. I told him
that I had to go to the bathroom, and he promptly pulled
over at a gas station. I got out and called my older sister,
telling her where we were. I then went and took the keys
from the ignition, hiding them so that we couldn't leave.
Then we waited. Soon enough, my sister arrived and picked us
up. As we drove away, he didn't even dare to look at us,
knowing that he had done wrong again and blown his chance of
seeing us in the future.
This, among many events, has shown me
what alcohol can do to a person. It can ruin situations and
take lives. If I hadn't have been paying attention to what
was going on around me, I am not sure that I would be here
to write this up. In the use of moderation, I realize that
it can be an enjoyable thing. Fortunately for me, I have the
choice of whether or not I want to use it. I don't ever want
to be the one on the other side of any child, yelling and
screaming. Alcohol is a person's right to use, but I
personally detest the substance in all forms. It ruined my
childhood and robber a little girl of her father. No one
deserves having those injustices wrought upon
them.
__________________________________
Brian
Hodge
_____________________________________________________
Since middle school I've witnessed
peers rise to positions of respect and, occasionally, power.
On the other end of the spectrum I've seen perfectly
respectable friends of mine drop out and become burdens on
society. There are several factors that lead to these kids
taking the paths they have in life. One dominant factor that
I have noticed, time and again, is alcohol.
As far as I'm concerned alcohol, when
used in moderation, is perfectly fine. The thing is, kids in
high school don't drink in moderation. Kids in high school
drink to get drunk. Decision-making skills are greatly
reduced while under the influence. Obviously this can lead
to bad decisions.
Another problem with underage drinking
is that it seems like there is no moderation whatsoever. If
a kid parties, chances are they party every weekend. Chances
are they go to parties and get drunk. Chances are nothing
happens most of the time except maybe for some minor drama.
Every so often, though, something big will happen, a car
crash, a rape, a death.
Alcohol is what I call a gateway drug.
This is defiantly disputable but it seems to me to be. An
example could be found in an eighth grade boy. He doesn't
know whether or not he wants to drink but his friends talk
him into it. After doing it a couple of times the doubt
leaves him, no longer does he think it's so bad. After all,
nothing bad has happened to him yet. Maybe he'll try
smoking, since drinking has turned out to be fun. So the kid
tries marijuana. Maybe he moves onto harder drugs from
there, maybe he doesn't. The fact of the matter is that this
theoretical eighth grader is well on his way to being an
unsuccessful nothing. One bad decision has perpetuated into
a wave of negativity that is washing over his whole life and
will likely continue to do so for the remainder of
it.
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
I sit on the sidelines and listen to
the idle chatter of the friends I've known for years,
wondering what happened to the days in the past when I had
so much in common with them. We used to play outside, in the
woods, exploring the land and building forts. Every day was
filled with new adventures. Nowadays, all they want to do is
go out with guys they barely know and party. Their idea of
fun is to get laid by some random guy who they find
interesting while they're drunk and hate the next morning.
The possible consequences of what could happen don't matter
in the slightest to them. It's all about living for that
one, brief moment of fake happiness.
I've seen it happen over the years.
They slowly forgot who there were and what they deemed
important. Little by little, they were sucked in by the
opinions of the larger, popular crowd. They began to try
everything that was offered to them, thinking that a small
amount of experimentation wouldn't hurt them at all.
Everyone failed to notice how much more they were consuming
as the days went by, but it didn't matter. As long as they
were having fun, everything else was
unimportant.
A girl that used to call me her best
friend has almost forgotten about me as well. We used to
chat all the time about anything and everything that popped
into our heads, unafraid of being ourselves. We were young
and carefree. She began to hang out with a different crowd a
few years ago, however, a group that was into the drug, sex
and alcohol scene, leaving me behind. The group attempted to
get me to join their ranks at first, telling me that I
needed to try the things that they did, that it was weird of
me to not want to do something new, but I ignored them. It
wasn't my wish to even risk becoming addicted to something
I'd only abhor later.
The girl moved farther and farther
away from me until we were almost completely separated. Her
friends are now none other than the people she parties with,
and they endlessly chat about the next big event. I only see
her because we share a class at school and we have nothing
in common any more, save for the fact that we both have
boyfriends. Our ways of viewing what they are there for are
far different from each other. I'm with mine for the long
run, but her guy is there only for momentary fun. She tells
me about him, her partying, and a little bit of the other
things happening in her life sometimes. I pity her for what
her life has become. Eventually her bad habits will catch up
with her, and one can only guess at what will happen
then.
__________________________________
Dillon
Jenkins
_____________________________________________________
Alcohol is rated among the highest
killers in America whether it is driving under the
influence, alcohol poisoning or other reasons. It causes
cancer and can make you do things you may regret in the
morning. For women it can cause Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
(FAS) to the unborn fetus if they are pregnant. Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome causes the newborn to have learning
disabilities as well as physical abnormalities. For men it
damages sperm and egg production, plus it decreases the
level of testosterone in the body, which could lead to
shrinkage in penis size.
In the brain, alcohol boosts
neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, but when
you stop they go back down. It also causes brain cells to
swell up, causes depression and increases the risk of stroke
dramatically. Alcohol effects your attention span, sleep,
coordination and memory as well. Plus it causes cancers in
the mouth, voice box, pharynx and esophagus. Alcohol is just
like an anesthetic in such ways that it relaxes your arms
and legs, but at the same time it reduces the body's ability
to absorb calcium, which leads to weakening of the bones and
diseases like osteoporosis. Chemicals called nitrosamines,
that cause cancer in the mouth, voice box, pharynx and
esophagus are found when you consume alcoholic
beverages.
The liver has to deal with about 90%
of the alcohol that enters the body. When the liver breaks
it down, acetaldehyde is produced which is almost two-times
as strong as the alcohol itself. If large amounts of alcohol
are processed, regularly, it can lead to the scarring of the
liver, damaging its ability to function and restricts the
blood flow to cells. Many alcoholic beverages contain high
doses of sugar, calories, and carbohydrates. In the
digestive system this can lead to peptic ulcers,
inflammation of the pancreas, and the small intestines
ability to process nutrients and vitamins.
Moderate doses of red wine can aid in
protecting against colds, heart disease and keep arteries
unclogged, to reduce the risk of heart attacks. In the long
run though, it weakens heart muscles and its ability to pump
blood through-out the body. Believe it or not, drinking can
also cause hepatitis, and one in ten drinkers will develop
cirrhosis, and only a transplant is the cure.
A 12-oz can of beer, a 5-oz glass of
wine, or a shot of whiskey are all considered one drink.
Women will feel the effects of alcohol more than an average
man, for multiple reasons. Women have less overall body
water, regardless of their weight. They also have less
dehydrogenates (a liver enzyme that breaks down alcohol)
than men do. Plus women are at a greater risk of liver
disease, damage to the pancreas, high blood pressure, and
breast cancer. Being a woman has no affect on whether the
drinker becomes an alcoholic or not. That has to do with
heredity, actually males are at higher risks than women are
for that disease.
Hangovers are the body's reaction to
the withdrawal of alcohol from the body. They usually take
from 8-12 hours from the last drink to kick in. To help
prevent hangovers, try to eat a good meal and snack
throughout the night, also don't plan any drinking games or
take multiple shots. One thing not to do if you have a
hangover is to drink more alcohol the next day, or have
caffeine. What you do need to do is drink plenty of juices
and water, and have healthy meals through out the
day.
_________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
All the time we're told how bad
alcohol is for you. We're made to believe that it's a
terrible evil. I don't completely agree with
this.
I completely agree with the fact that
people shouldn't be drinking if they're underage. That law
was made for a reason and it should be followed. I often
hear stories of how drunk someone got when they were
partying during the weekend. That is something that I
think is pretty bad. I'm not a scientist or anything, but I
do know that we are still developing. If you're giving your
body alcohol, you could be messing with your development. I
just think people should wait until they're twenty-one to
drink. Not only is it legal, but you're fully developed, so
you won't be messing that up.
I also think that with drinking there
comes a great responsibility. People shouldn't be drinking
to get drunk. It should just be a drink that they drink here
and there. I don't understand why people feel a need to
drink and drink and drink. Hangovers don't sound very fun,
and plus it's dangerous. Alcohol isn't bad, it's just when
someone abuses it that it turns harmful. It also turns
harmful when someone does something that will endanger
other's lives, such as driving under the influence. Someone
who drinks alcohol needs to be responsible enough to not put
anybody else's life in danger.
Overall I believe alcohol just needs
to be treated with respect. It's not something that you
should abuse, and you should wait until you're the legal age
to drink it. As long as you're responsible about how you
drink, then everything should be fine I guess.
_________________________________
Rachael
Murphy
______________________________________________________
Well let's see, I can state the
obvious and say that drinking alcohol is bad and you
shouldn't do it...but we all already know that. So why do
teens still drink even after they know it is bad for their
health? Maybe it could be the reason every adult out
there seems to think it is. We all know and love this one,
peer pressure.
If you ask me peer pressure isn't
there for most teens, a teen is more than likely to drink
because their parents drink or used to drink. Peer pressure
is an excuse for parents so they can blame it on their
child's friends and not their parenting. So why do teens
drink?
Well teens could drink because they
want to, because they feel that it is suppose to relax them
and make them have fun easier. But I was always told things
aren't suppose to be easy, you can't learn when things are
easy. That's why life will give you sometime when things are
easy then give you sometimes when life is hard. Personally I
come from a bunch of alcoholics, and I don't have a need to
drink, I have friends who drink but they know that I won't
because I know what it can do to you.
Alcohol can ruin your life. It can
strip you of all your money and it can make you live in a
box or under a bridge. I have worked all my life so I could
just get out of the mobile home parks and go to school after
high school, and one day have my own real house and
salon (which is what I want to go to school for...to become
a beautician). But if I was to start drinking now I'd
probably be a full blown alcoholic by the middle of next
year and I wouldn't be able to pay my bills or go to school
anymore. So everything I would have worked so hard for all
of my life would have gone down the drain with just a couple
of drinks! I would have worked all those years and just
thrown it away.
Yes, some teens realize that they
probably aren't going to go very far in life and that's why
they turn to alcohol and or drugs. But I think that if
they had a friend to tell them that they didn't need to do
that it was just going to ruin them more than help them they
might actually do better. But that friend shouldn't be an
adult especially when concerning a teenager. An adult would
come off as someone just trying to push them around just
like their parents. So, who should talk to the teens about
alcohol? A teen should talk to a teen. But the teen
would have to be able to relate and so you would run into
complications but you would run into complications no matter
what.
So teens and drinking is a problem but
exactly how can you fix it? I don't know...maybe you
can't. Or maybe we should look into reverse
psychology! I know that if I am told to do something I
have an urge to do the opposite. But I know that that isn't
just a teen thing either.
Drinking is a problem but only when
you aren't responsible. Like if you have one glass of wine
at night and that is all the alcohol you have then you are
being responsible. But if you go out weekends or even worse
during the week, you have an issue and aren't being
responsible with your drinking.
I don't know if I have written what
you were wanting to hear or not, but I wrote from my heart.
I wrote about alcohol and what it can lead to when you are
irresponsible. I wrote about how to be responsible. I also
wrote about how there are really teens out there that need
help. I also gave some ideas on how to help them.
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
Alcohol is not a problem if drank
responsibly, meaning you're old enough, drinking a
reasonable amount, and not endangering anyone else. It
becomes a problem when it is not drunk responsibly. So, why
do so many people have a drinking problem? They're
addicted. Under age drinking is the easiest way to get
addicted. Peer pressure is one of the biggest reasons people
start drinking.
Most people don't realize that alcohol
is actually a poison that is consumed in such a small
quantity that it doesn't kill you. When your body is still
growing and adapting, it gets used to the alcohol much
easier than an adult's body, which is done changing. Your
body gets so used to it being there that alcohol actually
becomes necessary for it to function properly. Your body is
now in a Catch-22. It needs the alcohol, but the alcohol is
poisoning it.
To solve the problem, people have to
stop it before it starts. Teenagers are the only ones who
can do that. No matter how hard adults try to stop them,
they will always have access to alcohol. They need to
understand what they're actually drinking. They need to be
taught at an early age not to poison themselves with it. The
phrase "just say no" isn't good enough because it doesn't
address the problem. The pressure's still there to drink
anyway and fit in. But, if they thought of it as the poison
that it is, they wouldn't think it's so cool to drink. It
would change the way people see alcohol. I know I wouldn't
be willing to drink poison just to fit in. Anyone who tells
you to isn't really your friend.
_________________________________
Alexis
Purvee
______________________________________________________
"Just say no!" Was there ever a
more stupid slogan in the history of mankind? I think
not. If teenagers now days were to "just say no", we would
have more pregnancies, more deaths due to drunk driving and
binge drinking, more deaths due to drug use and abuse, and
more gang violence than could be conceivable. No one can
"just say no", it's not human nature. We are all curious,
adventurous, and stubborn animals. We are constantly putting
ourselves in danger, just to gain excitement, or that
ever-popular abstract noun, "experience". I don't drink
alcohol, but it's not because I "just said no", it's because
I'm not stupid. I was educated about the harmful effects of
using it, realized I had huge potential in my future, and
decided to distance myself from any person or situation
where alcohol would obviously be present.
I figure if the substance isn't
available, it's even less likely that I'll try it. Yeah,
sure, we are all tempted, that animal curiosity within us
cries out, "but wouldn't it be fun? Don't you want to try
new things?" That's just the difference between those
people who care about their health and future, and those who
do not. Those who care, like me, my family, and my friends,
would never dream of just picking up a bottle and chugging
away. That's not because of our parents hollered to blaze
glory about not drinking, it's because we're just a little
bit smarter than the average bear.
We all realized a long time ago that
we wanted certain things in life. Most of which don't
involve alcohol, and would in fact be severely curtailed if
we were to regularly consume or abuse alcohol. Now I'm not
against a grown adult, making a conscious, mature decision
to enjoy a little something occasionally. Sure alcohol kills
brain cells and liver tissues, but so do a lot of other
things. No, to these responsible adults, who have fully
developed organs, and a mature enough forebrain to be able
to understand the consequences of their actions, I say right
on; to each his own; and all good things in
moderation.
To the teenagers and young adults who
consume ridiculous amounts of this stuff, and have no guilt
whatsoever about ruining their health and their
relationships with the loving people around them, I say poop
on you. Sure I could have gone to the extremes, cursed them
all to Hades and so on, but when it comes right down to it,
I don't care enough. Not about them anyway,. Now if I know
them personally, sure, I would be concerned for their
well-being. I would try to do what I could to let them know
alcohol isn't cool, that it's harmful emotionally as well as
physically. We have to be realistic as well. No one person
can worry about all the people who use and abuse alcohol.
That's why they come up with those tacky slogans. It's so
you think they care, but in reality, they're just trying to
cover their bases. No parents wants their child to drink,
but if it's conveniently the kid next door, and that person
has no effect on their kid, then the odds are that they say,
"poor child, throwing their life away, if only the parents
were more involved."
They wouldn't walk over there and
start lecturing the kid, or referring them to
rehabilitation, or calling the police when they know the kid
is consuming alcohol. Oh no, better to let them deal with
their own and repeat those tacky slogans and wave our little
pity flags. Better to let the stupid ones kill themselves
off and let the bright ones shine through the rubble. Better
to let society fall to the demons of drugs, alcohol, and
vice than to stand up and make an honest effort at keeping
our children educated and healthy. Better to let me and my
friends live out our dreams than remind us of our fallen
companions that we left behind along the way. Then we
remember that they didn't "just say no", and don't feel as
bad.
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
"Wow that was a really funny
commercial" I often say to myself during the
commercial break of a sporting event on T.V. This is usually
followed by the sudden urge to grab a beer but, I am stopped
dead in my tracks. I realize that I am only 18 years old and
beer doesn't really taste good anyways. The mass marketing
ploy of laughter and jubilation, that many alcoholic
companies employ as a tactic to get me to buy their product
was almost successful. Years of a staunch law abiding
upbringing has done its job, realizing my mistake I forget
about it and continue rooting for my favorite team. Although
I am often entertained by the comical beer commercials, I
probably see seven to eight times on a regular day and more
than twenty during a televised sporting event. I have never
run to the store to buy myself a cold beer, but why
not?
First and most important I don't want
to go to jail or get caught up in the law. I can't imagine
what a pain in the ass all the paperwork and classes the
police would make you go to would be. This incident could
follow me my entire life on my permanent records. Who knows
what future doors will be closed because of my mistake. Is a
beer worth ruining my future monetary excursions? I
could possibly binge drink myself into a stupor for the rest
of my life or even die from drinking vast
quantities.
When I see beer commercials I simply
laugh and forget about it. Knowing that I am constantly
bombarded with advertisements for alcohol, I don't even pay
attention. If I even did begin to think about it, I would
have to think about repercussions. The repercussions alone
are enough to keep me away from that stuff until I am at
least 21.
__________________________________
Brianna
Rose
______________________________________________________
When I received the assignment from my
English teacher that we would have another essay to write, I
groaned right alongside the majority of my classmates. Even
thought this essay contest was offered as "required extra
credit," most of us don't look forward to it in the least
bit. We're antsy seniors in the beginning of spring that
just want to relax and think about how mortifying yet
enthralling our futures are going to be. So I'm not going to
lie to you and say that I was full of desire to write this
essay.
However, when I sat down to think
about what I was going to write, I found that this is a
topic I have quite a bit to say about. It is a topic that
has affected my family, friends and acquaintances. When
anything affects the ones I love, I'm going to have an
opinion about it. I just have to dig deep enough to find the
words to express my opinions. For a long while I was raised
to hide behind a wall of silence when it came to topics of
some sensitivity, and to just fit in with the people around
me. As I grow older and am exposed to more and more
opportunities to make weighty decisions that will affect
myself, my future, and my loved ones, I find that my voice
is beginning to break through that wall.
I won't base this essay on all the
miserable tales of how my life was affected by others under
the influence of alcohol. I won't base this essay on how
alcohol affects my peers - everyone has already seen it for
themselves or will soon enough, there's no way to prevent
it, no matter how many anti-drug forces there are out there.
Alcohol has become embedded into our culture, and people are
going to take advantage of it. I won't base this essay on
being a naysayer towards alcohol and to bring doom upon
everyone that consumes it. I am simply basing this essay on
my voice. I don't completely know what I'm going to say but
you asked for a teen's voice, what do you expect; a
perfectly orated masterpiece? I'm not writing this
essay as a fugure college graduate or English professor. I'm
writing as who I am; an empowered teenager.
I would first like to say that it's
not just to assume that all teens in high school have
consumed an alcoholic beverage before. Even on the essay
prompt we were given, it appeared to be assumed that the
teens this paper was given to would know what "alcopops" and
"yager bombs" were. Personally, I have never touched
alcohol, and I never will, and the only way I
would find out what those things are would be by hearing it
from a friend or looking it up on Google or something to
that affect. There is such a thing as a teen that
doesn't give into peer pressure, society and all
those other excuses for why the youth of America is
partially corrupt and in need of a helping hand.
I found out early on that I don't need
alcohol, other drugs, or sex to live an exhilarating life.
Believe it or not, there are some of us 'troublemakers' out
there that don't make as much trouble as the latest
statistics may say. I can only guess that the way I live my
life is decent enough without alcohol; I have numerous
friends that love me, I have a supportive dad, and I am well
on my way to a bright future in college. Sure, my life isn't
perfect, but I don't need to drown my sorrows in the nearest
bottle or keg - and nobody else out there does
either.
I have never had to give in to peer
pressure, because my peers don't pressure me. I make my
views and feelings known, and if they don't respect that,
then I'm not going to be around them. I respect their
wishes, and I expect the same. If they want to get wasted
every weekend or even just once in a while, they'll get an
earful of how I feel on the topic, but I won't forcefully
stop them. I have a strong voice in my peer group, and if
they don't like what they're hearing, my friends know they
can walk away and I won't take offense, and I know I can
walk away. We all make our own decisions and choices, and we
will figure out the consequences or rewards of what we do
soon enough.
So I suppose I haven't had a very
clear and definite point through this essay...but like I
said, I'm a teen. The majority of us aren't known for being
perfectly clear and understood. My basic point is that we
are who we choose to be, and we do what we choose to do. We
all have the power to take control of our lives, and I do
everything in my power to encourage the people around me to
make healthy choices.
__________________________________
Anonymous
______________________________________________________
I have honestly not had that much
personal experience with alcohol - my parents don't drink,
and besides a few sips, I have never myself. My grandfather
was a smoker and an alcoholic, and so my mother never
started to drink. My dad used to drink, but after a
particularly frightening experience with drunk driving, he
stopped. He has maybe a six-pack and a half a year, my mom
less than that. I know my brother and his wife do drink,
but, to the best of my knowledge, not in excess since they
had a son.
I've seen alcohol wreak havoc on many
of my friends' families. Some have gotten help, some have
just improved, others have sunk deeper. None of my close
friends drink themselves, usually because they've seen what
it does to their parents. Alcoholism is so prevalent in
Curry County, and there isn't nearly enough done to deal
with it - preventative measures aimed towards middle/high
schoolers or their parents. There certainly isn't enough
information out there about what a teen or younger child can
do to help a parent with an alcohol problem or get
themselves out of that situation if the parent isn't
interested in helping themselves. I've watched too many of
my friends grow up with parents who are under the influence
of alcohol, who were verbally abusive or worse. There are
anti-alcoholism programs in place, but I don't think they've
been implemented very effectively.
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