__________________________________
Anonymous
1
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What's in a promise? What makes
those two words so significant "I promise."? Nothing
but poignant meanings from a reliable gentleman. That could
be debatable because in this case it was
her father. This is a story of what could have been, but
more importantly the opposing, what never was. All based on
one promise and a poison. She woke up early that morning,
November 26th, 2007.
I don't know how long it had been
since she last saw her father, five months, six? It was
her birthday and the only gift she received was a no show
father and an empty seat. Despite resentment she lied that
his apologies weren't for granted, as she hung up the phone
with the caller ID stating "police station." Her heavy make
up and ironed yellow sun dress in vain, she withdrew herself
from the skew balloon and confettied table and retreated to
her room, too prideful to cry.
At night she listened to talk behind
closed doors, of her fathers most recent DUI and
arrest. With this, old memories flooded back like projected
slide show clips, all in horrific detail. At five years old
she first witnessed abuse. A cloudy minded man throwing
fists in her sibling without a tear shed or a sympathy
spoken of. Countless times was the boy at the age of
fourteen, left bruised and battered like a war hero. Too
young to be hardened but old enough to be aware of his
fathers disease. This leaving him passive to the situation
as a whole. Her mother in her youth did the same. Triggers
could be pointed to her temple and her own bruises bare her
stories, yet she stuck around. All, almost pitying the man
for being an alcoholic, for having a looming demon he could
not rid. The young girl, in her prime became all too
familiar with the flashing lights upon bedroom walls. Red
and blue. Police were of the regular and she was the one to
summon them in some circumstances. Neighbors looked down on
the whole family with sympathy and some disgust, up until
one day her mother took her away. But only her out of
legality. Nothing could be done to save her brother from the
next slow moving years of hell. Only imagination could
venture you further. Moving through the memories of later
years she spotted a sloppy man coming home from work and
forgetting her name, passing out at random and progressively
worsening to seizures. She wondered now, would there be no
end? In the morning a respectable man, in the afternoon
a drunk. Before long no amount of promises to quit were
enough. He proceeded to drown himself in the ways of a feign
until he became what she feared most, a monster. Her last
thought of him until the next day. Everything was so silent
in her room, her yellow dress still laying softly on her
bed. Police explaining the disaster. Alcoholic, withdrawal,
seizures.
It was November 28th, 2007 my father,
behind bars, died. I never let on that I knew he was
arrested again, im glad that wasn't his dying notion. Things
like anger were a thing of the past, there was no use when
he was gone. It was two days after my sixteenth birthday
that he was never able to attend. And never will be attend
one again. If I could only go back maybe I could stop him,
but I'll never get the chance. Because death is permanent,
and alcohol is a murderer.
__________________________________
Anonymous 2
______________________________________________________
Alcohol has had very little effect on
my life; but still it has had some effect on it. There have
been both good and bad outcomes from alcohol throughout my
life. I say that there have been good as well as bad effects
from drinking alcohol because, if used responsibly I think
alcohol is a wonderful thing.
I have had many amazing experiences
while under the influence of alcohol. It brings people
together in a joyful mood, and also allows for the
individual to be more self-confident, and in most
responsibly used cases it brings out the best in people. But
in other cases it has the adverse effect resulting in
fights, loud arguments and sometimes changing the consumer
into a belligerent, blubbering idiot.
I have had experiences where both
effects of alcohol have shown themselves. My favorite
experiences with alcohol have been while on camping trips
with my family, and from those camping trips I have many
fond memories. Although at times when people drink
irresponsibly things tend to get out of hand.
Alcoholics (people who drink on a
regular basis just to get drunk) are usually ass-holes. They
tend to be abusive, inconsiderate and snappy. When one
becomes an alcoholic he/she chooses to let substances
control his/her life. Personally I don't want to allow a
substance to control my life, and thus I choose not to be an
alcoholic.
__________________________________
Anonymous
3
_______________________________________________________
Thinking about it, alcohol has
affected my life in more ways that I would have imagined.
Starting my freshman year I hung out with a lot of juniors.
Back then I had my parents' trust because I'd never done
anything to take it away, until I started trying to keep up
with those juniors. I would do anything to have that trust
back.
My first real experience with alcohol
was December 4, 2005. I was with my junior friends, driving
around town trying to find something to do. We ended up
finding a friend who had alcohol and an empty apartment for
us to drink in because she was baby sitting for someone who
didn't care if we drank. Before I knew it I was taking shots
of vodka out of a wine glass and I remember taking at least
six wine glass shots. At the time I was about 5'5" and 105
pounds, as you can imagine it took a toll on my body. I
don't remember anymore of that night but my friends and
family do. I almost died that night at the age of fourteen
and I got my punishment for living. I was horribly sick for
almost a week, got an M.I.P. and most of all lost my parents
trust. Still to this day they don't fully trust
me.
That's only one of my experiences;
I've seen alcohol change my favorite person to someone I
hate and someone that hurts me. I've had too many friends to
count change because of alcohol and now we are no longer
friends. People don't realize this little bottle of poison
can change someone's life in a flash.
__________________________________
Sarah
Holland
______________________________________________________
They had gone to a party, he was
drinking, and she wasn't. He had promised to take it slow,
but she knew the chances of that were slim to none. On drink
quickly turned into two, and so on. Within the first half
hour of the party he was trashed. She wondered how he could
even stand.
In a matter of minutes things changed.
He was sick, and screaming at her. She didn't notice it
though, she was more concerned about him falling and hurting
himself. She would be up all night with him, checking on
him. She hated worrying about him, even more than him
yelling at her in front of all their friends. As long as he
drank things would be like this, but she was stuck. If she
left he would only get worse and it would be on her
hands.
There had been many nights where she
had done this. He was always sorry in the morning. The next
night he would turn around and do the same thing, despite
his promises to cut back, or stop all together. She didn't
even drink, but was caught in the vicious cycle her man had
created.
__________________________________
Anonymous
5
_______________________________________________________
Well to start off I think that alcohol
is awesome and is an important part of society today. Though
there are many cons to alcohol in general, I think that
alcohol had lead to many great experiences on my part and
many others.
It all started on night when I was
hanging out with some of my friends and we decided to get
some alcohol and get all twisted. We got a hold of a couple
of 30 packs and some hard alcohol. We decided to have the
party in a field and lit up a roaring fire. The drinking
started off slowly with everyone just talking and sipping
down the barley pops. Soon enough we started to feel a buzz
and that's when things began to pick up. We started to chug
down the alcohol and my vision began to grow blurrier and
blurrier with the more alcohol I consumed. We then decided
to throw a big wooden spool on the fire and one of the
crazier of us decided to stand on it while it burned, which
he successfully accomplished with the help of a little
Yeager.
The night kept getting later and the
alcohol in cans and bottles just kept diminishing as our
legs got wobblier and wobblier. We were all having a good
time yelling out random crap and just plain BS'ing. We then
decided we were all pretty trashed and stumbled our way down
the dirt road to an old, rickety, abandoned, crack head
trailer and straight messed that thing up. We kicked out the
walls and all had a grand time doing so. We then stumbled
blurry eyes back to camp and after a night of good times and
fun we all passed out carefree and accomplished.
All in all I think alcohol has more
positive effects than negative (in my experiences), but as
with anything alcohol is always better in
moderation.
__________________________________
Anonymous
6
______________________________________________________
Alcohol has changed my life in a
countless amount of ways. It has changed my friends to the
point where I feel as if I don't even know who they are
anymore. It has caused by oldest sister who has two kids to
get a divorced, but the biggest thing that affected me is
what alcohol has done to my dad.
As a kid I didn't' think much of my
dad drinking because he always had, it seemed normal. I
didn't actually realize what it was doing to him and the
effects it had on my entire family. As I got older I started
to see things more and more and realize what was going on
behind the scenes. I would wake up in the middle of the
night to my parents yelling at the top of their lungs
because my dad had come home drunk once again. That's when I
started realizing how much it really hurt my mom. She did
everything in her power to hide what was going on between
them and tried so hard to make us kids happy that she didn't
have any time for herself. I could tell that everything my
dad was did was killing her inside. There were times when we
would come home from school and all our belongings would be
sitting outside on the lawn because my dad lied to my mom
about paying the bills and went and bought alcohol instead.
We went a week being homeless and living in a hotel. My dad
had run are credit so far down that we couldn't get a
house.
When all the kids got older and my mom
realized she wouldn't be able to hide things anymore she
decided that getting a divorce would be the best thing for
all of us. At first it wasn't too bad. My mom seemed happier
and started losing weight and we still got to see my dad
every so often. We could finally have our friends stay the
night because there wasn't the chance of my parents getting
in another argument. It made me happy to see my mom so
happy.
A couple years went by before he
started influencing our lives in bad ways again. My dad was
living in his truck and got a DUI sending him to jail.
Everyone at school heard about this and would tease me and
my siblings about it. I just did my best to ignore them and
keep a positive attitude. When my dad got out of jail he
decided he needed to sober up and do something with his
life. It made us happy to see this happen with him. Inside I
knew it was just a matter of time till things would fall
apart again though. After the second time, I no longer
considered him my dad. It took him getting thrown in jail
twice to finally realize he needed to stop drinking forever.
Today he is doing well and hasn't drank in two years. I am
happy for him and the fact that he could finally see how it
hurt him and his family but to me he still hasn't earned the
right for me to finally call him "dad" again.
__________________________________
Anonymous
7
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Brookings-Harbor High School sports
have been decimated by the effects of alcohol and teen
drinking. This year our volleyball team had the chance to go
to state, for the first time in many years. The school was
pumped up to go. Nobody knew going to practice that day one
of their key players was no longer going to be a part of
their team. One varsity player got kicked off the team that
day for being caught at a party. She didn't know or think at
the time that she was going to affect her whole team. All
the girls were devastated, they all thought how their great
season was going to slip away from them.
The All League Championship soccer
team had another devastating blow. Three girls and one boy
were removed from the team. One of the girls was a starter,
and so was the boy. Unfortunately that did put a lot of
stress on the teams for they needed the players to help them
keep their name as All League Champions. Both teams kept the
name but with those players they could have gone much
further in the play-offs.
Cheerleaders had two grils suspended
from only one basketball game. Only no body will ever know
if they could have had that extra practice they might have
gotten higher in state. Girl's basketball had two girls from
volleyball and soccer still suspended. They had to take
classes to make up for what they did. One player went to a
party, she didn't drink but got caught just being there and
was suspended from the team for a month. That some what
affected the team but lucky for them they are going to
play-offs and have all their players.
Softball has always been my passion.
This year we are going to have a very strong team. My main
worry at this point is someone will make a wrong decision
and go to a party. Having a player be kicked off because
they make a stupid decision will affect our team a lot.
Every player we have is very important to us. This being my
senior year and always playing softball it would really
devastate me losing someone so important to our team. I
really hope everyone will make a good decision and stay away
from alcohol, start making good choices and not hurt anymore
teams.
__________________________________
Anonymous
8
______________________________________________________
Drinking has never been part of my
regular weekend plans like others in my high school. I have
never felt the need to get drunk with my peers and do
irresponsible things as often as possible. Unfortunately
there are many students at my school that feel that drinking
is one of their most fun pass times, I do not
agree.
I have seen the negative effects of
drinking underage. I have seen the risks that you can
encounter; tickets, loss of respect, and mental damage. Some
students of Brookings-Harbor high School have experienced
the negative risks associated with understand drinking. When
you are caught drinking underage, if you play a sport; you
will be suspended from the team. Unfortunately some of our
sports teams during the 2009-2010 year have already dealt
with this punishment. I wish the students of my school, and
future students, could recognize and respect the risks
associated with drinking.
Many younger students that are getting
ready to start high school soon should be prepared for
social pressure to drink alcohol. While there is pressure to
drink by some of your peers, there are also other students
that do not choose to participate in underage drinking. To
younger students that do not want to drink, take the time to
look for other kids like you that have better things to do.
Participate in a club, spend time with your family, or find
a part time job.
If you look, you can find other
friends that won't try to pressure you into doing things
that you don't want to do. If you set your own limits and
uphold them through the help of your friends, you will not
need to worry about social pressures. It may seem that
"everyone" has drank or partied, but it is not true. Look
harder and you will find a large group of students that do
not believe in underage drinking, too.
_________________________________
Anonymous
9
______________________________________________________
Alcohol ruins lives, that's a given.
There's no mystery in how alcohol affects household all over
the world, and how devastating to a family it can be. So how
does something so negative to millions of daughters,
mothers, brothers, and fathers turn out to be so positive
for me? Luck of the draw.
Choices made voluntary by others, but
that determine my life involuntarily. My mother chose
differently than those of her family. Holidays, every one of
her relative's excuses to get together and validate their
ever prominent alcoholism. With drunken mornings that lead
to afternoons, to nights, day after day, long after
celebrations were over.
My Christmases are sober, amicable.
The negative effects of alcohol on my mother's life, has
given me the positive life that I see as the only way of
living. Without alcohol. My life is as positive as it is
because of the negative effects of alcohol.
Luck of the draw. Because my mother
grew up around alcoholics, I reaped the benefits of her
choices to be different than them, to not drink. Her
voluntary choice of being a better person involuntarily
changed the course of my life for the better.
When you drink, you don't only affect
your own life. When you drink, you voluntarily make
decisions that involuntarily change the course of other's
lives. You are responsible for everyone around you when you
become an alcoholic. You change the course for generations
in your family for decades to come. Drinking is not a
personal choice. It's a life devastating choice, that
doesn't only affect your life. It affects your child, my
mother, my brothers, sisters, daughters, sons. Voluntarily
make a choice not to drink, so we don't have to.
__________________________________
Anonymous
10
_______________________________________________________
Growing up I have always been around
alcohol, I'm not saying that my parents were alcoholics, but
that every night they would have a large glass or two of
wine. Alcohol never really affected my life until I was
thirteen. It was at that age that I received a call from my
mom telling me how my oldest brother Daniel was in the
emergency room. Later I found that he had gone to a bar, got
drunk, picked up a girl then fell asleep at the wheel of his
car on his way home. He had crashed into a brick building,
injuring himself and the girl. They were both in critical
condition.
A year later my cousin died. He was
seventeen years old and the driver of the vehicle. He had
three friends in the car who were lucky enough to survive
the accident. As it turns out my cousin and his friends had
been drinking. They were on there way to my cousin's house
when he swerved and crashed into a tree, dying on impact.
His funeral was heartbreaking, I had never met my cousin
before but even that didn't mask the pain I felt. In fact it
made it all the worse, I had never met my cousin and now
there was no chance I ever would.
Not even a year ago my brother Daniel
moved up to Oregon and was visiting my mom before moving to
the coast to live with my dad. He had broken up with his
girlfriend of four years so that they wouldn't have to deal
with a long distance relationship. After a couple days of
Noelle calling every hour or so to beg him to come back, my
brother cracked.
Overcome with depression my brother
started drinking, then when the alcohol couldn't take away
the pain he started popping pills, he managed to swallow the
entire bottle. Thankfully around that time my mother called
home to check on him, after talking to him for a minute she
immediately hung up and called 911. My brother was rushed to
the ER where they without delay they pumped his stomach. He
was in critical care for about three days where he was under
constant observation. He was lucky to survive.
Alcohol is the reason I will never
know my cousin. It is the reason my brother owes over ten
thousand dollars in hospital bills, and almost his life.
When you drink alcohol you pay a price; I just wish my
cousin hadn't had to pay with his life.
_________________________________
Anonymous
11
______________________________________________________
I didn't know that a fun night out
with friends was going to turn into the worst night of my
life. I was staying out of town with a few friends for the
weekend. That Saturday night we chose to attend a sweet 16
birthday party. We knew there was going to be alcohol there
and we were still okay going. This was going to be my first
party and I was especially excited. We arrived to the house
and drinks were already flying around. We started drinking
and playing games. More people started to show up and the
house started to get crowded. I knew nobody there and became
the "Cute out-of-town girl." I ended up drinking
heavily and started to feel extremely sick. An older boy
walked me into a spare bedroom. The boy laid me down and I
fell asleep. I had no idea what was going to happen
next.
I woke up from an immense bang. The
door slammed shut and two boys locked the door. After I
became more aware I started to panic. I tried to scream, the
boy covered my mouth. I tried to fight him, he punched me in
the face. I was so scared I didn't know what I was going to
do, so I just laid still. The two boys ripped off all my
clothes and did exactly what they wanted to do. I couldn't
do anything about it.
Alcohol played a big role and I will
never forget what happened. I was young, innocent, and dumb.
I was beaten, slapped, and mind and body was torn apart that
night, all because of poor decisions and the effects that
alcohol had on me.
I haven't picked up a drink
since.
__________________________________
Anonymous
12
______________________________________________________
Have you ever been scared for the life
of a friend? Did you ever wonder which moment could be his
last? Maybe he is an unsafe driver, or just doesn't
value his life enough. Imagine a friend drinking far over
his limit, lying in a bed passed out, waking up every few
minutes to vomit. Here is how the story goes. Amy, Carmen,
Jenny and I were getting bored at a high school basketball
game, so we decided to go to our friend Mark's house. We
walked inside the house full of boys, and three of the four
boys had taken off running, thinking that we were Mark's
parents. Only two of the three boys came back. So it was
Amy, Carmen Jenny, John, Robert and I at the house. Mark
offered all us girls a drink but only Amy and I accepted. He
crawled through his parents' window to get a bottle of
Vodka, and poured us two shots each. Shortly after, us girls
decided to leave the house and hang out in town. Jenny, who
had not drank, was driving. As Amy, Carmen and I were
starting to get bored in town again, we decided to head back
to the house. When we got there, all the boys were in Mark's
room and Mark was laying sideways on his bed, vomiting into
a trash can. His consciousness went back and forth for about
the next half hour. While he was awake, John made him smell
the bottle and swear he would never drink again. After a
while, he would barely wake up. At this point we knew we had
to try something. I turned on a cold shower, while John and
Anthony (The boy who had taken off when we first came to the
house) carried Mark into the bathroom. After he got out of
the shower, He was able to walk, and make sense while he was
talking to us. He told us that he needed to go to sleep, and
he needed us to help him make the house look normal. All the
guys started to take off, and Amy, Carmen and I thought we
would have to take care of everything ourselves. I took out
the trash while Amy and Carmen turned off the lights. We
said goodnight, and walked out the front door, locking it
behind us. For the rest of the weekend, I could not forget
how that boy's face looked, and I could not stop thinking
about the possibility that maybe, he hadn't woken up the
next morning. Maybe his parents came back that night to
their little boy, filled from alcohol poisoning. Even though
I had heard of worse situations dealing with alcohol, this
was my own personal experience. Since that night, I vowed to
always do everything I can to make sure everyone will wake
up in the morning.
__________________________________
Anonymous
13
______________________________________________________
"9-1-1, what's your
emergency?" My throat was dry as a desert, my hands
shook and tears strolled down my face wishing I was dead.
(Sniff.) "T-t-there has been an accident." It took
everything is my bruised body to hold back my whimpered
cries. "Okay, I need you to tell me where you're
located." The last thing I remembered was sitting
next to my two best friends at the homecoming after party
the seniors were all invited to. My head was throbbing as I
tried to see a sign. "Um, I think it was 28th and
Main?" "Alright, I need you to try and stay calm. An
ambulance is on..."
It was the last thing I heard before
the world went dark. I woke up 3 hours later in Intensive
Care with broken ribs, black eyes, bruised legs, and my face
and arms were badly cut with glass. All I could think about
was Lacey and Britney. My mind raced wondering how bad they
were hurt and where they were. I balled my eyes out until my
parents and doctor came in the room. I held my breath as the
doctor told me the news. I didn't want to believe it, but I
knew it was true. Britney had died shortly after arriving at
the hospital. Lacey had barely managed to make it. For
several nights I drowned my hands in tears of guilt and
sorrow wishing I could have changed the past. I had lost my
best friend and hurt another over what only seemed as 4
drinks.
The following month Lacey and I
attended her funeral. My heart wrenched as I saw her body
lying in her coffin. Looking at her once delicate face made
me wonder why it was so important that I drank that night.
Just because everyone else around me were doing it to pass
the time and make things "fun" didn't mean I had to be part
of that. Being with my two best friends was good enough for
me. The most heartbreaking moment after everything was said
and done was that I never got to say goodbye. I never truly
had the chance to tell her how wonderful of a friend she was
to me. From that day forward Lacey and I had vowed to never
drink again. Just because someone tells you its cool or
everyone is doing it doesn't mean that you should drink.
Always ask yourself this; would you risk you friend for a
drink?
__________________________________
Anonymous
14
______________________________________________________
The Alliance and I pulled up to the
exclusive party place and I knew I was going to leave
everything at the exclusive party place. I walk over to the
half pipe and before I get introduced I am offered a pull
off of some Jose. I grabbed the bottle with a tight grip and
threw it back. I grabbed my skateboard with the same grip
and took to the half pipe. I was a little wobbly, but I got
the God Damn job done. I go down off the ramp and was
rewarded with another pull that I couldn't
refuse.
I had had so many pulls of the Jose
that I couldn't remember how much I had had to drink, but I
knew that it was too much. I tried to pick up my skateboard
but the strength I had in my grip told me I should put it
down. I was walking away from the half pipe when I had one
of those horrible feelings in my stomach I had ever
experienced. I spent the next two hours yakking my stomach
out and thinking I will never put Jose on my back
again.
I have had many experiences drinking
and I know enough that it could be a great time or a time
you hope you don't remember. If you don't let drinking take
control of your life and do it just to have a good time you
should do just fine. I always drink responsibly and usually
know my limit and the most important thing is I never drink
and drive.
__________________________________
Blain
Tidwell
______________________________________________________
Having seen what alcohol has done to
the families of alcoholics, I have come to realize that I
have truly been blessed. The fact that alcohol has not take
over the lives of any of my loved ones is something that I
am extremely grateful for. I don't believe that I could
handle it if my life were as hard as some that I have
seen.
The families of alcoholics are some of
the strongest individuals I have ever met. The hurt and
heartbreak they go through are things that no one should
ever have to live with. A child not having any new clothes
because their parents spent all of their money on beer is
terrible. Their stories are so dreadful that you cant help
but cry.
It is somewhat difficult to not drink
because of the peer pressure most teens go
through. For the most part, To me the best way to prevent
drinking under peer pressure or not is to think of how the
families I have seen are. I know I don't want my life to be
like that, and I wouldn't want to put my children through
that torture later on in life. When I think of how my life
could end up, it is extremely easy to just say no to
drinking.
I find it disgusting how easily
alcohol can take someone's life. Whether its drunk driving
or getting alcohol poisoning from binge drinking, it is
completely preventable. I consider how much I love my family
and friends, and I know that drinking is not worth the risk
of never being able to see them again.
There is a great amount of things that
I enjoy doing instead of drinking. I don't think that
you need to have something altering your brain so you can
have fun. Just being yourself and living your life sober is
a great way to experience things, rather than hardly being
able to function because you have had just a little too much
to drink.
__________________________________
Anonymous
16
______________________________________________________
It was the year 2003, I was in the
seventh grade of school, and life was good. My friends and I
had been doing great in school, good grades, stayed out of
trouble, and we were going to join the soccer team later in
the year. My two best friends, Jeremy and John Gorman, were
twin brothers I had befriended when I first moved to this
town. Jeremy was the smart one they would always say, he had
a future, always reading up on biology and wanted to be a
biologist. John, on the other hand, was on a whole different
spectrum, he wanted to be a pro soccer player. They did
everything together, at least, until that fateful day in
March.
Jeremy, John and I were walking from
the middle school back to their house. We planned to hang
out in their room and play Jeremy's PS2, which he had just
gotten as a Birthday present Six days ago. It was strange,
thinking back on that day, how simple everything seemed
school, homework, play, sleep. A Cycle you never thought
could change, but simple times come to abrupt, tragic ends.
All thanks to alcohol.
They say he was always a problem
drinker; he periodically would be carried home by his
friends from the local bar. They told John later than he had
gotten in a fight with his wife while they were drinking and
stormed out of the house, driving off. That man, driving
while drunk as he was, caused a most cataclysmic change to
our simple cycle. As we walked, laughing down the road to
the twin's house, the man came swerving down the road and
hit Jeremy, killing him instantly.
They say grief built hate, but John
never showed it, he was shell shocked, didn't talk for days
after the accident. I remember him being pulled out of class
many times in the weeks following the accident, always to go
talk to some counselor. Back then I didn't understand how he
felt, to me I had lost a friend; to him he had lost a
brother, his other self. Maybe that's why he did what he
did.
It was two months after the accident
that the ambulance showed up at the Gorman's home. The
siren's filled our road on that cold June morning. I went
outside and headed over to the Gorman's home, and began
asking questions, wondering what happened. I finally saw
Mrs. and Mr. Gorman sitting in the kitchen next to a police
officer crying. I overhead the conversation; John had hung
himself from Jeremy's bunk bed. I felt blown away, my mind
was shocked, both my best friend's were dead, gone forever.
I headed out of the house, but stopped. On the table in the
living room was a letter in a plastic baggy, a letter from
John. It read:
"I'm sorry I did this, but I
couldn't stand the pain, every morning waking up with him
missing, I felt broken. I hate that man for what he did, he
was so stupid. But it's ok now, I'm going to go see Jeremy.
Bye mommy and daddy, I love you"
I read the note from afar; saw some of
the smudges from tears littering the paper. I turned to Mr.
and Mrs. Gorman and watched them cry for awhile, unsure of
what to do. Finally, I left the house and went out to the
curb, thinking about it all, how the man, being drunk, drove
out from his house and started this all. I held my head in
my hands, and cried.
_________________________________
Steven
Elrod
_____________________________________________________
My name is Steven Elrod, I am a senior
at BHHS. I am not old enough to call myself an adult as I am
only seventeen years old. I am however, old enough to claim
the disease of alcoholism. My first alcoholic drink
consumption was at the age of two, and my first intoxication
was shortly afterwards. This was not the beginning of my
problem. My Father passed away September 16, 2005 of several
factors, a main one being liver failure. I lost more than my
father. I lost a protector, a teacher, and a disciplinarian.
There was no longer a male figure in my life to guide me and
warn me of the evil in this world. This void was vast and
painful, so I tried to fill it; with many things including
alcohol. This is not the end of my problem.
I am, from my very first breath to the
moment I leave this earthly plane an alcoholic. I do not
choose this life, nor did I want this disease and
responsibility. I was born into alcoholism by my father who
drank heavily before I was born, increasing my likelihood
over the average person for alcoholism by over 900 times; I
am a genetically predisposed alcoholic. There are no fingers
to point, no one else to blame for my problem but my own.
Some would look to my father, saying that his poor choices
changed my life forever in a way I will never fully
comprehend. I would not. Not only did my father live a good
life, raising his sons and family how he saw ethically,
religiously and morally fit, but he lived his own life and
made his own path. To hold anger and grief against my father
for what he did before he met my mother would be irrational
and vain. I hold only hope, hope that the eyes who read my
testimony of genetic weakness will think more about the echo
that their actions will have, not only in their own life,
but in the other who they care for. My name is Steven Elrod,
I am a seventeen year alcoholic and I humbly implore that
all alcohol is not rejected but rather questioned, for I am
living proof that all sins shall not go
unpunished.
_________________________________
Anonymous
18
____________________________________________________
I was about eleven when I first
drank. It was with my aunts and it wasn't very much. I went
to a lot of parties with my aunt and by the time I got my
permit and then my licence I became their designated driver.
So I was around alcohol a lot. However my parents don't
drink.
As I got older I started to drink more
at the parties. Then I started to party with friends and
just after that I was partying with people I had never met
before. I started sneaking out and drinking more and harder
alcohol. I found myself hungover and sick a lot of the time,
yet I was always up for going out and doing the same thing
the next night. I just couldn't get enough of it.
I was in a croud with some bad people.
I started getting into drugs and I started smoking. My life
was a mess I always looked like crap, I was to high or
hungover to care what I looked like. Somehow I always
managed to pull myself together and look great at the next
party.
The hardest part to look back on is
that in just a couple months I was suddenly on the verge of
destroying my life. Till one party almosdt ended it all. I
had drank so much that night and had taken some pills. I
still to this day have no idea exactly what happened that
night. When I woke up the next morning I had no idea where I
was sicker than I had even been before.
After hearing some of the stories
about what happened I decided I was done, I had to stop. I
was destroying everything I had worked so hard for. Im clean
and sober now, I will never make the same mistake again. In
just a matter of months my life was almost gone. I will
never let alcohol affect my life again.
_________________________________
Anonymous
19
____________________________________________________
Saturday, New Year's night around six
p.m I had cracked into my first beer. Along with five others
we had set out to get the most messed up anyone has even
been.
Earlier that day my friend and I had
went to the liquor store to buy a large amount of alcohol.
Ended up costing $114.50 cents, three thirty packs a half
gallon of Yeager and six tilts.
Anyways that night we had started out
playing beer pong. I mean game, after game, after game of
beer pong. We finished off two thirty packs of beer just
from beer pong! That's 60 beers, so ten beers each. We were
drunk or course but who says were done!
Drinking about ten beers wasn't
enough, so we popped the half gallon of Yeager and had like
literally eleven or twelve Yeager bombs each tell it was
gone. Two thirty packs and a half gallon of Yeager down, one
thirty pack and six tilts to go!
By this time the bath rooms were taken
and I had to piss. So I get this idea right, and it was to
piss off the deck... well a couple of my friends were down
there smoking and I pissed all over my friend ha-ha. So he
ran up stairs and that funny thing is, is he was drunk so he
ate mega shit coming up the stairs.
Around one p.m every one was tanked
playing video games, bullshiting in the kitchen. Around two
we had finished everything besides the tilts so you can only
image how incoherent we were. We had all found our way to
the couch playing online halo 2 and ha-ha I got like 14
kills, not bad if a do say so myself.
By three p.m we were all out sleeping
like babies but for some reason I had woken up to this sound
and it was my friend who had drunken 24 beers to himself was
sleep walking and pissing in the cloths basket for like
literally four minutes ha-ha but I was too drunk to care so
I let it slide and laughed it up in the morning! Oh yeah and
the kid who ate shit running up the stairs got himself a
pretty shiner then next morning...
__________________________________
Anonymous
20
______________________________________________________
Who would have thought the
fermentation of fruit, hops, barley and other things would
develop into a drinkable fluid capable of destroying
personalities, bodies, and in extreme cases, lives. After
all, this is all the drink consists of. In plain scientific
terms, it is simply a weak poison, with short term effects
of disorientation and illness. Yet somehow, this simple
fluid has become a stronghold and gateway into and for many
desperate situations.
I have no bad experiences with alcohol
on a personal basis. My parents never drank irresponsibly,
and I have never either. I have never woken up on a floor
after a night of drinking covered in throw up, I have never
had to disguise a painful hangover, and I have never
destroyed relationships with my intoxication. I have never
been hit, yelled at or abused in any sort of way by a
drunken parent. Neither have I had to watch a close friend
get rushed to the emergency room for alcohol poisoning. All
the stories of hardships have luckily not become
mind.
I have no personal experiences with
the damaging effects of alcohol. I have however heard them.
I have listened to my friend's heartache after a drunken
episode with her parent, I have heard worried accounts of
friends parents drunken driving escapades and I have watched
as my cousin had to bury not one but three people she loved
due to parties gone terribly wrong. All this has kept me
sane about my own experiences with the drink.
Alcohol, in moderation, with a healthy
person both mind and body is typically nothing to outlaw.
But alcohol in the hands of a weakened willpower or child is
deadly. My opinion is that it is not the drink, but the
state of the person consuming it. People need to become more
personally responsible or their issues will not be
fixed.
__________________________________
Anonymous
21
______________________________________________________
Why would someone be proud of being an
alcoholic? Kids usually think people who can drink are
cool. That is probably why lots of my friends and people my
age always try to show others that they can they are
drinkers, especially beer and wine at parties.
Once, I and my friend went to a
birthday party. It was fun at first, but then they started
to bring out wine and beer. I drank a cup of beer, and my
face got flushed. I stopped. But my friend kept drinking
wine. I did not know what kind of wine it was, but he had
drunk one whole bottle already. People started to scream
out: "Wuhu!! Look at him! Wow!" He drank
more and more...The party ended, and I took him home at
11:30 that night. If my parents had been at home, I would
have died. He was out of control and started yelling and
laughing like crazy. And the worst thing was that he threw
up. Why did he have to drink that much and then I was the
one that had to clean up? He smelled really bad, just
like a pig and was as dirty as a mouse that had just run
through the mud. Did I mention that he threw up on my
back? Yep. I was stinky like a pig, too. Two pigs were
on the street.
But he is not the only one I know that
drinks. My cousin drinks, too. She is one year older than
me. Her parents travel a lot and they do not really care
about what their kids do. It was last summer when I and my
brother went on a trip with her and her brother. On the last
day, we decided to go to a club and have some fun. But it
was not fun for me at all. We went to the nightclub, and of
course we drank. I have never been a good drinker, so I
could not drink much. My brother did not drink much either,
and we were thankful for that. Because my cousins were so
drunk that he had to carry them to the car and drove back to
the hotel. I had only two swallows, but my head was so dizzy
I could not sleep until 4 or 5 am. The problem was that we
woke up late the next morning and missed out plane. We had
to change our tickets and pay an extra fee for that. To be
honest, that was the worst, and most remembered trip
ever.
All my memories about alcohol are
terrible. So do not think that I am pretending to be a good
kid by saying this, but it is true: "Alcohol is bad."
__________________________________
Anonymous
22
_____________________________________________________
It was the weekend after the SAT's.
After tireless hours of preparing for a test that possibly
could decide the rest of our lives, we were ready to party
like no other. My best friend's parents were out of town,
and you can bet we were going to drink as much as possible
in the time they were going to be gone. We stocked the
fridge. Vodka, beer, and Mike's hard flowed from the doors
like water from a river in paradise. It was beautiful, I
almost cried. As soon as I got off work we all headed to the
house on that lovely Saturday evening with only one thing on
our minds, drink till the sun rises. We did just
that.
We started off subtly, subtle as a
gun. We pounded shots like we were 50-year old axe men,
fresh out of the forest, done with a hard day's labor.
Simultaneously we played beer pong for countless hours
hammering away at the fridge full of drink. It was magical,
to me. I assume we all looked like a bunch of idiots, but
that's not the point.
As the night went on, and as the
refrigerator's alcoholic glory began to fade, so did our
sobriety. A room full of bright, mature high school students
rapidly became a room full of drunken, horny teenagers. This
is my heaven, a sad sight to any adult individual, but a
whole full of splendor and wonderment for someone of my
particular taste. My drunken stupor led me through the house
laughing and socializing with every girl there. I don't know
it if was my outgoing personality talking, or my
reproductive organs. I'm going to place my bet on number
two.
Light switch. Bulbs like the sun shine
in my eyes like morning telling me it has come. It hasn't. A
roar of laugher arises from my friends as my vision returns
to clarity. I try my best to get on my feet. It's a little
hard to do when you have been passed out in a 6x3 foot
pantry for three hours. I reach for the door to get out, all
I grab is air. I realize that I have just tried to grab a
solid wall. This brings even more laughter from my friends
witnessing this ridiculous event. I need to throw up. I rush
to the bathroom as fast as a drunkard can, and it's just
fast enough...to throw up all over the bathroom rug. Great
night..
__________________________________
Anonymous
23
_______________________________________________________
Alcohol has never really affected my
life in a big way. Neither of my parents drink. When I hit
high school, it seemed like a lot more kids were into the
drinking thing. I remember the first time I got drunk. My
friend came to visit from Astoria, I hadn't seen her in
years. She stayed the night at my house. It being her first
night back, we wanted to party. We snuck out that night, and
went. She didn't drink. I drank a lot, and before I knew it,
it was four in the morning. We had to be back before my
mother woke up for work. One of my friends gave us a ride,
but we had to stop and get gas first. My friend and I went
into the bathroom. I was standing next to the sink, I
started to get really dizzy and fell into it, it fell, and
water was everywhere. Before we knew it two police cars had
arrived. That night, I was humiliated, scared, and wasted.
They were nice and let us just go home. The next day a
police officer showed up at my house. Told my parents, and
told me I had to pay the station one thousand dollars. Took
me all summer. I was lucky, and did not receive an
MIP.
My parents were mad and disappointed.
What I learned from this experience was that there is a
reason for a legal drinking age. Just because it looks like
fun, doesn't mean you are ready for it. It comes with
responsibility and consequences. When you're a teen that
drinks, sometimes you have fun, or it causes drama, or bad
choices, or sometimes you just get caught. A lot of kids
think drinking makes you look cool, but how cool do you
think you look, bent over a toilet throwing up, or hugging
the wall barely able to stand?
__________________________________
Anonymous
24
______________________________________________________
Last year, during spring break, I made
a bad decision. I thought it was going to be a fun, sober
break, but I was wrong. I ended up doing the stupidest thing
I have ever done. It all started on my birthday.
I was at my house. I was enjoying the
fact that I had just become 17. Then all if a sudden, my
friends come over. They came in holding a couple of six
packs, vodka, and whiskey. They actually weren't aware that
it was my birthday. They just came over because they thought
it would be fun to have a party at my house. So I told them
that it was my birthday and then out of nowhere, one of my
friends offered me a shot of vodka. Of course, I said no,
but they still pressured me to take a drink. So I decided to
take one drink. I was going to take only one drink and then
no more. I took the cup and poured the vodka into my mouth.
The alcohol was strong in my mouth, making it hard for me to
swallow. When I finally did, I started to cough because of
how strong it was. After that, I was still offered another
drink; this time, a shot of whiskey. I said no again but
after all the pressure, I just finally decided, what the
heck, it's just one day. So I took another drink this time
more carefully and managed to drink it without coughing.
Then he mixed together the whiskey and the vodka together
into one cup and had me drink it. Of course, it tasted
really bad. There was guide a lot of it which made it hard
to me to finish. Even though it was about 4 shots, I got
really drunk. I was doing lots of strange stuff including,
playing my guitar and probably sounding really bad. My house
eventually filled up with people. Most of them my sister
invited. They were playing beer pong in the kitchen while I
was just watching. I eventually got bored so I went to lie
down in my bed.
After what seemed like a couple of
minutes, the doorbell rings. I was in my room still drunk
when this happens. I quickly learned that it was the cops
checking our house because someone reported us. At this
point, I was very scared. I thought he was going to come
into my room and find me, but all he did was check the
refrigerator. Then he left leaving me still in my bed very
happy that he was gone.
After that day, I was afraid to take
another drink of alcohol. I was afraid of getting into the
same situation. So after that day, I didn't drink anymore.
This really taught me what can happen if you drink. I
learned that it's not worth getting drunk if you're going to
get all paranoid about it. It's not worth the risk, stay
sober. Don't risk ruining your whole life.
__________________________________
Anonymous
25
______________________________________________________
My most memorable experience with
alcohol would have to be the night after my grandmother and
I put down her dog. That night and the three days that
followed, I learned just what alcohol can turn an adult
into; no more than an old child.
My grandmother and I had just walked
through her door, having come from the veterinary hospital,
and having just euthanized her dog. She immediately headed
to the kitchen, and poured herself a drink; three quarters
of a glass of vodka with a splash of Kailua. Not even an
hour later, she was drunk, and still drinking.
At seven o'clock pm she was so drunk
that I had to baby sit her. She couldn't walk without
falling and her speech was incomprehensible. She refused to
eat, and I had to confine her to her bedroom. All night long
I had to help her back into bed because she had gone back
into the kitchen for another drink. It was exhausting, and
it was something that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Finally, at
around seven o'clock am she fell asleep. I walked into the
living room, laid down on the floor, and promptly slid into
a deep slumber.
I woke up at ten thirty o'clock am to
the sound of breaking glass; she dropped her glass, full of
vodka, on the kitchen floor. Those kinds of things were
common place for the next two days. She was drunk for three
days straight! I cooked, cleaned, and watched after a sixty
three year old woman. From this experience, I learned that
becoming belligerently drunk is no solution; it's only an
additional problem.
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