ESSAY CONTESTS
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1st "Through My Eyes" Gold
Beach Essay Contest Winners
Students from Gold Beach High School's
Leadership class wrote nonfiction essays, anonymously or
giving their names, about the impact of alcohol on their
lives for April, 2009 (Alcohol Awareness Month). The top
five essays appeared throughout the month in the Curry
County Reporter, beginning with Honorable Mention essays
and ending with the First Place winner.
First
Place Winner
Second
Place Winner
Third
Place Winner
Honorable
Mention
Honorable
Mention
First Place
Winner - Elissa Hawkins
Aunt Kathy's funeral was a
somber event
I have never drunk alcohol, and have
no desire to do so. Although I have been exposed to its use,
I have seen the risks and witnessed the consequences that
come with drinking. I have seen it used amongst my peers,
but the person that I saw drink that has influenced me to be
abstinent the most is my Aunt Kathy.
My grandparents owned a bar in a rural
part of Oregon. It was a small, family owned and operated
establishment that served the same group of people every
night. All of their children were expected to help out at
the bar taking orders, waiting on people, cooking, and
cleaning. This work put my aunts, uncle and father in an
atmosphere every day that would influence their alcohol use
for the rest of their lives.
Although all of the siblings, my
father included, had stints of alcoholism, my Aunt Kathy had
it worst. She began partying during high school, and her
alcohol abuse continued all through her life. Early in her
twenties, she met and married a man, and together they drank
nonstop. Together, their alcoholism led to bigger and better
drugs, including marijuana.
After the birth of her two children,
my Aunt Kathy seemed to have realized that alcohol was not
the answer to all of her troubles. This period of her life
was short lived, however, and within a few years she was
back to her old ways. Inevitably, her son dropped out of
high school, her daughter was sent to live with her
grandparents, and her marriage ended. This led to her total
dependence on alcohol.
A few, short years later, my
grandmother had a stroke and my grandpa couldn't take care
of her as much as he would have liked to. The whole family
was asked to help out in any way they could. Being next door
neighbors, it was my father's duty to take care of the day
to day care, but soon, the stress of this role grew and my
father couldn't do it all on his own. This is when my Aunt
Kathy offered to help out and stay at their home for one or
two weeks every month and take a turn caring for her
parents. It was during this time that the family found out
just how dependent my aunt was on alcohol. She was drunk the
entire time she was at their house, and soon started taking
large amounts of pills to help her body with all the effects
the alcohol was having. These medications had side effects
too, the main being drowsiness, which took away her ability
to care for my grandparents when she was taking
them.
Shortly after the news about my Aunt's
dependence was spread through the family, my Aunt met a man
and in a few short months, they were married. This new man
had a positive influence on my aunt, and she quit drinking
all together. After just two months, though, she was in the
hospital, and her health was deteriorating rapidly. She had
to quit drinking alcohol so suddenly that her body was going
through such major withdrawals that it was shutting down.
She had liver failure, which caused her to lose large
amounts of weight in a short period of time and her stomach
to swell. When we went to see her at the hospital, just a
few days before she died, she looked like she was more than
9 months pregnant and about ready to give birth.
My Aunt Kathy's funeral was a somber
event. The realization of the effects of alcoholism hit
everyone in the family, causing everyone to give up the
addictive drug for good. After seeing what she went through,
everyone that she hurt, and everything that she did, I vowed
never to drink. Through her pain and suffering, I learned
the hard way what alcohol could do to a person. It is
because of her that I choose for today, and the rest of my
days to come, to never drink alcohol.
Second Place
Winner -
Julia Denning
I have an
addictive personality
I have an
addictive personality. I remember the cake walk at the Riley
Creek carnival so long ago. I spent an hour walking circles
in time to dorky music in hopes of winning a cheesecake, and
when I finally won, I realized it wasn't that wonderful,
especially considering the money I had spent on tickets.
I also remember,
around the same time, my obsession with eating. I ballooned
into an overweight elementary student, although sports and
knowledge of health eating habits remedied that eventually.
I've even been addicted to cleaning, prone to panic attacks
when my sister's half of the room looked unrecognizable.
I've learned how to manage all of these addictions over the
last decade, but there are certain things I will never try,
certain things I will never risk an addiction to. I decided
long ago that alcohol will never touch my lips.
As a child, I relished
vacations to San Diego, where my favorite boy cousins lived.
I loved visiting Matthew and Caleb, and have fond memories
of playing with snails, sitting in Matthew's wheelchair, and
swinging in the playgrounds. For years, I was unaware of the
reason Matthew's legs hung limply. When my parents thought I
was ready, they told me the saddest story I've ever heard.
In December of 1998, my father's missionary sister and her
family were on furlough from Papua, New Guinea. They were
driving in central Oregon when a car swerved into their lane
and caused a head-on collision. My aunt broke her back, my
uncle fractured his leg, Caleb escaped uninjured, Matthew
was paralyzed from the waist down, and my five-year-old
cousin Casey died. The driver was drunk.
I've never been
invited to a party, possibly because my father was most of
my classmates' principal at one time, but I like to think
that it's because everyone knows what my answer to his or
her invitation will be. I will never let myself succumb to
any pressure to drink. If I take even one sip, I may lose
all self-control. I may take another sip, then another,
until the night becomes a blur. I may become addicted, like
I was to winning, to food, and to cleaning. But worst, I may
grab my car keys at the end of the night, and I may get
behind the wheel of my car and drive home.
I've spent hours
wondering how close Casey and I would have become if I had
ever known him, and it breaks my heart to think that I could
potentially take the role of the drunk driver that took his
life away. I know it's inevitable that I will be addicted to
some things in life, like travel and, perhaps, cleaning, but
alcohol will never make the list. As a tribute to my cousin,
and to those whose lives have been devastated as a result of
drinking, I will never let alcohol touch my lips.
Third Place
Winner -
Anonymous
It was late at night when it
got the worst
It was usually late at night when it
got the worst. It would be my two sisters and my little
brother and then me, all trying to hide from our alcoholic
father. We would all be huddled together behind our bedroom
door so that he could not come in to hurt us. Our mother
would be trying to keep us safe by keeping us in our
bedroom. But my mother got the worst of it, the physical and
the emotional part. She would try to calm him down, but it
only got worse. She would hide the liquor, but he always got
it.
He always came home drunk, on drugs
and very angry. The cops would always come and take him
away. Sometimes he would come back. It was hard at times
when my mom would cry because we would live with what
happened to our family.
But I remember this one night he came
back home drunker than ever and more furious than ever. All
of us kids ran into the bedroom really scared and wondering
why it always happens to us. But as soon as we knew, the
cops came again and took him away again, but it felt
different this time. It was like he was leaving our
hearts.
When I was little I always wondered
why he hated us so bad and why he wanted to make out lives
so miserable. But as I got older I realized it was never us
that made him the way he was. It was always the alcohol that
made him the way he is today.
Now I'm almost 17 and know if I get
into alcohol and drugs I now know what it would do to me and
the people that love me deeply.
Someday I would like to tell my story
and share the feeling on how it feels to be so forgotten and
lost. I want to make a difference in this world by doing the
right thing and passing it on.
Honorable
Mention -Sydney Snook
I'm one of the
lucky ones
At 15 years of age,
and in the 10th grade, I have yet to take my first drink and
I am very proud of it. And to be completely honest, I think
of myself as one of the lucky ones. I am someone who is
surrounded by friends at school who aren't into drinking
either and don't pressure me into it or look down on me for
deciding not to drink.
But the sad thing is
that I am one of the few. Drinking just isn't in the cards
for me. That's just not the person I am. I don't want to be
just another teenage statistic.
Living in the small
town of Gold Beach, lots of teens go to drinking as a cure
for boredom. Sometimes high school students have too much
time on their hands. Also, there are plenty of students that
don't participate in sports and some that don't have a very
good support system at home. Drinking is not something I
have ever felt the need to try because I am a very busy
person. I am really into my running and alcohol would just
slow me down and hold me back from my full potential. When I
graduate I have big plans on going to college and hopefully
getting a scholarship to run there also.
I may not be the most
"popular" or outgoing kid in school, but I am definitely not
the one to make stupid decisions either. And one thing I do
know is that I can sure hold my ground when it comes to
drinking. I know what's right and drinking just isn't one of
those things you should say yes to. It does take lots of
self confidence that so many people don't have. Knowing
yourself though is a very good start. And as a sophomore in
high school, I couldn't be happier with my decision not to
drink alcohol.
Honorable
Mention - Anonymous
I lost my parent's
trust
I told my parents that I was
going to my Freshman Winter Formal dance. What I was really
planning to do was to get drunk with my friends. This was a
bad idea from the start, but the even worse idea was to take
back one of our friends who had gotten drunk to the
dance.
One of the teachers must have noticed
something was up because they called the police. Unbeknownst
to us, we hopped into a person's car that was going to take
us to the next party but had not drunk yet. About 2-3 blocks
after we pulled out from the dance I looked back in my rear
view mirror to see red and blue lights flashing behind our
car. I could not believe it. The driver pulled on to the
airport road and came to a halt.
The feeling of about to be arrested
made me scramble to try to cover up my bad deed. I tried to
put gum in my mouth to mask the smell, but it was too late.
The car had absorbed the smell from the alcohol coming out
of our pores and coming off our clothes. There was no hiding
from it. When the policeman came to our window and shone the
lights in our faces, he knew. He asked us all to get out and
take a breathalyzer test.
It is funny, because it is fun for a
little bit when you drink alcohol, but believe me it is not
fun anymore when you have lost yourself to the point where
you don't know what you are doing with your life. It leads
you down a path where you hurt other people by hurting
yourself. I know that because of my reckless way of living I
hurt my family to the point where they didn't know who their
daughter was. She was sneaking out, hanging out with strange
boys, and lying to them. They knew it was their last chance
to get her back.
With the help of my parents, my life
was going to take a turn for the better, but not without
dire consequences. First, I had lost my parents' trust. I
was no longer allowed to hang out with my friends, and I was
made to work at their business for longer amounts of time
than I usually had to. Because of my arrest and minor in
possession charge, I was made to take drug and alcohol
classes and I had my driving privileges suspended for a
year. I had humiliated myself, my family, and my coworkers.
I have to say that that was the worst feeling of all. The
only person that you can let down is yourself when you
drink. Don't give yourself excuses to do down the same path
that I did. Don't try drugs and alcohol.
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