ESSAY CONTESTS
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"Through My
Eyes" Essay Contest VI Winners
These top nine essays
appeared in The Curry Coastal Pilot during April,
2011. The short-cut to this page is http://bit.ly/gfnhHv
Check out all 25 essays here.
Want to have a talk with your children but don't know how to
start or what so say? Click here.
First
Place -
Stacie Osborn - 23
Second
Place -
Anonymous - 21
Third
Place -
Kassandra Rhodes - 25
Fourth
Place -
Emilee Bottoms - 12
Fifth
Place -
Jenna Flowers - 6
Sixth
Place -
Anonymous 14
Seventh
Place -
Anonymous 24
Eighth
Place
-
Anonymous
19
Ninth
Place -
Anonymous 8
Background
First
Place - Stacie Osborn - 23
He drank it all up,
the silence engulfed him; it weighed heavy on his shoulders
pressing him into the ground, molding him to the earth. He
ran his hands over the soft green grass feeling the small
pricks of each and every blade on his fingertips: it
screamed in his ears, so loud but so quiet. The wind blew a
hard gust and it wiped away his worries and every horrifying
thought racing through his head; it filled his lungs with
the sweet scented air fresh with his vodka burps; it felt
like pure ecstasy. These feelings didn't last much longer;
every time he closed his eyes he was swept back to last
night. The screams echoed through his ears rattling him to
the core, dry blood still on his hands, clothes, hair; hell,
it was everywhere. He looked over at the totaled car, he saw
Selina's slumped outline. If he stayed this far from the car
he couldn't tell, couldn't see that her face was gone, but
he knew. He knew as soon as it happened, as soon as her head
hit the vinyl and slid, her face was ripped off, she was
gone. It happened so fast but so slow all at the same time.
Andy sat with his head on his knees, his left eyebrow
hanging down the side of his face, a tooth and some blood in
his hands; his smashed cell phone sat next to him. Patrick
stood pacing, Lydia was no where to be found.
Patrick stood pacing
until the sun came up, he then walked as well as he could
towards town, fifteen or so miles away. He reached the first
house he saw and called the authorities, he was arrested
within the next hour. When the car and kids were reached
Selina was officially pronounced dead, Lydia was found and
hooked up to life support, and Andy stayed sitting;
traumatized for the remainder of his life.
That night in 2007 I
lost all of my friends, the friends I'd grown up with since
preschool. I couldn't function anymore, I couldn't stand to
drive down that road to head to school, or walk past the
houses of my dead, incarcerated, and institutionalized
friends. It was killing me slowly day by day, so we finally
moved out of Washington and came to this little beach town
my family believed would be safe, be clean, be clear of
worry. A place where I could make friends and not have to be
scared and worry constantly about losing them, but we were
wrong; it's just as bad if not worse here. I've been here
for three years now, watching nearly everyone I have come to
know partake in drugs and alcohol. Due to the consumption
there are accidents, fights, pregnancies, and someday there
will be death. It's time for some serious change.
Second
Place -. Anonymous - 21
Everyone has
that one family member they look forward to seeing at
Thanksgiving and Christmas, the "cool" relative who always
makes them smile. For me, this person is my uncle Larry. My
dad's brother is always the life of the party. He is the
relative I look forward to seeing at every get
together.
Two months ago, my
uncle was told he had six months to live. His constant
drinking has ruined his liver. When I was too young to
really understand what alcoholism was, he had a very bad
drinking problem. He was hospitalized for alcohol related
issues, and made a decision to abstain from alcohol. He
stuck to this decision for many years. However, when his
wife died a year and a half ago, he picked up a bottle and
has hardly been sober since.
His constant drinking
for eighteen months has put him in the hospital for
Emergency Care twice. He now lives with his mother because
he is too weak to take care of himself. He has stopped
working and is collecting Social Security disability. He
goes to the hospital once a week to have liquid siphoned out
of his body because his body is no longer able to function
properly.
Larry's drinking has
affected not only me, but my entire family. My grandmother
had to move to San Jose to be able to take care of him, even
though at eighty years old she really needs someone to take
care of her. His two older children, my cousins, are now
dealing not only with the loss of their mom, but the
impending death of their father. My dad has had to travel to
San Jose to help his brother, and our entire family has had
to pull together to support him emotionally and financially.
My uncle is no longer
the life of the party. He is to sick to travel to family
events, and when we visit him he doesn't even have the
energy to talk with us. The gravity of his situation finally
hit him, and he has again decided to stop drinking.
Unfortunately, this choice came too late. His death will be
the result of a lifestyle choice to drink excessively; just
one more life claimed by alcohol.
Third
Place - Kassandra Rhodes
Alcohol...Alcohol...Poison
to our generation. Poison to our past generations. Poison to
our future generations. It corrupts the minds of the ones
who consume it. It also corrupts the minds of the ones that
are tied to the ones that consume it. It's a kind of poison
that destroys who we are as a person as well as physical
deterioration to our body. It destroys us mentally yet we
still do it. We might as well dig ourselves a deep dark hole
to lie in and rot.
From the looks of it
and from observing a little bit, there is an alcohol problem
in this town. No doubt about that. From personal experience
living in two totally different states, I kind of have an
idea why we have an alcohol and drug problem here. Living in
somewhat of a big city with a lot of things and activities
to do, there was not that big of a drug and alcohol problem
there. There was still a problem there tough. No denying
that. Almost anywhere you look now days, there's some form
of substance abuse problems. Being a teenager, we don't like
being bored. This is a small town, and it definitely does
not have that many things to do or activities to do to keep
all of the teenagers occupied. So, therefore, some teenagers
resort to alcohol and other drugs and some even
partying.
"Going to parties and
getting hammered is way more fun that going to Rock N' Bowl
every weekend." A statement like that only shows more
evidence to why we have an alcohol problem in this town. It
is so small that teenagers get bored of doing things that
they have done a few times. I know for a fact that I would
not want to go bowling every time I go hang out with my
friends. Teenagers feel threatened when or if they get in
trouble. So, therefore, they rebel causing them to want to
do more illegal things like drinking and doing
drugs.
We need teenagers to
get together to think up some activities to do in this town
that are legal and don't involve substance abuse. Some teens
are pressured to drink because their friends are doing it
and don't want to be left out. A majority of the teenagers
in this town drink because of straight out boredom.
Fourth
Place - Emilee Bottoms - 12
Shelbie was the type
of girl who had been Valedictorian of her class, was
involved in every activity imaginable at her school, and had
never been to the principal's office. Her parents had always
been big influences on her; they taught her right from wrong
and encouraged her to be the best she could be. Shelbie was
also a great role model for her young sister Sarah. Shelbie
was all of those things and more. That was until her parents
and sister were killed in a car accident.
To deal with her loss
she turned to alcohol. She started hanging with new friends
and partying. At first it was a couple beers at a party, and
then it turned into a couple beers a night. Pretty soon she
was drinking from the moment she woke up until the moment
she went to sleep. She couldn't stop. Shelbie had become an
alcoholic. She let her family's death take over her life,
and her only source of help was at the bottom of a beer
bottle.
Shelbie had a best
friend name Jamie whom she had been friends with since
preschool. Jamie had been there through everything: the
accident, the hospital, the final bad news, the funeral, and
the weeks following. It hurt her to see Shelbie like this.
She did everything she could to try and help her, but Jamie
had been replaced by alcohol. Even though Shelbie no longer
cared about Jamie, Jamie still didn't give up. She picked
her up from parties, put her into bed and sobered her up in
the morning. Jamie cared about her and knew that Shelbie
would be herself again someday.
Shelbie had gone to
another party and had drunk a lot. More than she normally
did. She had been talking with a guy named Tyler that night
and thought he was pretty cool. As the night continued, she
began to fade in and out of consciousness. She remembered
that Tyler had brought her another drink but after that
everything was a blank. The following morning she was very
confused. She was in her own bed, in pajamas and wrapped in
a blanket. She had no memory of getting there. She looked up
and saw Jamie sitting at her desk reading a
magazine.
Jamie had saved her.
She had shown up just as Tyler was carrying Shelbie to a
bedroom. She called the police and saved her friend from
something that would have destroyed her. After that night
Shelbie realized how low she had fallen and went to rehab
and sobered up. She enrolled in college with Jamie and was
able to start a career and a new life. Even though she
misses her family she deals with her pain in a new way. She
helps teens who have lost loved ones come out of the dark
place they are in and start new lives. She helps the type of
people that she had once been.
Fifth
Place - Jenna Flowers - 6
Looking through my
eyes would see a completely different picture than when
you're looking straight at me. Looking at me, you might
catch the look of disappointment my eyes regrettably
release, or maybe you would just see my hope for things to
change. but no matter how long you scan my eyes, you'll
never feel the emotions that come with the people, with
their words, or with their actions. Through my eyes this is
what you'll see.
You'll first see the
red, orange, and yellow waves dance before you. Across
you'll see what used to be delightful faces, faces that I
love. But tonight their faces turn into an all too familiar
dark face. You'll see their squinting eyes, gazing at
whatever is most comfortable for them. And you'll hear their
words slur as they try to say what they believe to be clever
thoughts. As the night becomes colder, darker, their words
become harsh. They begin to spit fire, they start to morph;
they make decisions they will regret, if they remember, they
begin to cause pain.
And it will begin to
burn instantly. Everything they say, do and become, cuts
you, bruises you, and weakens you. You can no longer stand
to listen to their idiotic and so called "fun" time. But
you'll know not to leave, not to let them out of your sight.
With every hour that passes. You'll hear the empty bottle
shatter, as they themselves fall onto the rocks. You can no
longer stand to hear the voices that come from the ones you
respect, love and admire the most. And although you feel you
can't take this burn any longer, you know it will return, it
always returns.
Now you'll feel anger,
confusion, depression, disappointment and misery all at
once. You won't understand why your guardians do this to
you, to themselves. Do they not feel your pain, hear your
fears? You'll see now that they can't. Do they not know
that they deserve better, that you deserve better? With
alcohol replacing their blood, they can't hear you, they
can't see you. Why face your discomfort when they're trying
to ignore their own? And for a few hours it works,
they're numb. But now you catch the pain, you're responsible
for it now. But you can't let this defeat you. You need to
be there. You'll now hear the heaving, as the alcohol bits
back. You'll now have to play guardian.
You'll pick them off
the ground, you'll get them safely to bed. You'll stay up
all night making sure they're okay, like they once did when
you were an infant. Your heart will skip a beat when your
ears don't catch the sound of their breath. And you'll wish
and hope that tonight was your last night. But you'll know
it'll return, it always returns.
Sixth
Place - Anonymous 14
Liquid courage; a
phase commonly associated with alcohol. Being intoxicated is
not necessarily a bad thing, unless your underage or to the
point of alcohol poisoning. Teenagers rebel against society
especially in a small town such as Brookings for many
reasons. Some of which includes the obvious, which is simply
being drunk and knowing its illegal makes it that much more
of a thrill. Another reason being the fact that there is
very little activities such as bowling or the movies or any
other nonalcoholic environmental spots to go and do stuff at
on the weekends.
One night at a party
there was this girl named Mia; bright funny, college bound
girl. She decided that she'd like to relax and have fun by
partying. So she started off the night by having a few
beers. A few beers turned into more than twenty in the
course of a few hours. As a result of drinking so much in
such a short time period she collapsed; luckily Brennan was
there to catch her. She then started puking up all of the
alcohol her body couldn't handle. After throwing up she
passed out and was unresponsive for a few hours, luckily
there was Daniel, who happened to be an EMT. Daniel had
encountered a few people in his lifetime that were on the
brink of death from alcohol poisoning. When he came across
Mia he realized how intoxicated she actually was and assured
us that everything would be fine. We had to keep an eye on
her though just to make sure she stayed on her side. The
moment she woke up and was somewhat coherent everyone
started asking questions to make sure she was all right. She
drank so much that she blacked out and didn't recall
anything of that night. She couldn't believe that she
allowed herself to consume that much liquor and regretted
ever doing it.
Everyone at the party,
for once, realized the true dangers and the actual reality
of drinking. They all witnessed someone that was
unresponsive due to her binge drinking. If it wasn't for
Brennan and Daniel, Mia wouldn't be alive this very minute.
They paid attention in school and learned what is needed in
a situation such as this to keep Mia on her side so she
wouldn't kill herself with her own vomit. So if anyone wants
to partake in teen drinking because they think its "cool" or
"the thing to do", just be aware of the possible outcomes,
such as vomiting, loss of memory of the night, possibly date
raped, and even death. So just be aware of the dangers.
Seventh
Place - Anonymous 24
It's dark. I can't see
anything. My head hurts and my legs burn. Where am I? It's
cold and I hear people breathing. Sleeping maybe? Am I in a
sleeping bag? Then it hits me, well part of it anyway. I
came up river with friends to a party. There was a lot of
people and drinking. I'm starting to remember a little, but
I still don't remember last night.
Think, I tell myself.
Ok, I remember getting picked up by Eric, Lisa, Larson,
Jessie and Jake. Eric was driving and we stopped somewhere
for Jake to buy alcohol. Then we started to head up to the
party, right? Yea, because that's when Jessie turned up the
music and Larson jumped in the back. No, wait, we stopped at
Eric's house first to grab the tent and stuff and then we
headed up.
Someone starts to move
around. I can't tell who it is. Where is everyone I came
with? What time is it? Wait, where's my cell? I can't find
it! Calm yourself, I try to tell myself. It has to be around
here! I start feeling around for it. I found it! Where are
the buttons? This isn't my phone. I open it up and it says
it's 4:35 am. What time do I remember last...7pm? No, I
think it was almost 8pm because it was getting dark and
Larson got off work at 7pm.
When we first arrived,
there were a bunch of people I didn't know. I introduced
myself and they seemed nice. Jake comes up to me with a 40
oz. and tells me to loosen up. I think about it and take a
sip. What could happen I tell myself.
So where's my cell?
I'll call it! Of course, there's no service! Great, just
like in horror films right before they die. No service,
perfect.
I remember talking to
someone in the dark. Someone I didn't recognize because his
voice was raspy. I remember not being able to stand up and
falling to the ground. Oh! That's when I hit my head. I
tried to get up but he told me to just stay before I fell
again. He started to move closer to me. I wanted to
leave.
So what do I do now?
It's starting to get lighter outside. The person to my left
looks like Lisa and by my feet is Jessie and some guy? I
hear people outside, so I slowly stand up. Wow, my leg
really burns and so does my arm. I lift my sleeve up and
there are scratches all over. Where did I get them from? I
don't remember. I unzip the tent and step out.
He wouldn't let me
leave. I remember him grabbing my arm.
Larson's out by a fire
and he keeps ignoring me. Why is he mad at me? I go back
inside the tent to look for my stuff. I see my purse in the
corner; good my phone's in it! I walk out to the truck to
Eric. I feel nausea and I just want to go home. I can't
believe I blacked out last night, I think to myself feeling
the pain of my legs. I'm scared of not knowing. I feel
violated.
Eighth
Place - Anonymous 19
Alcohol represents
smart decisions and the willingness to live with
consequences. I am neither for nor against alcohol, but I do
believe alcohol is a factor that can help determine a
person's strength of character. There are no magical steps
to learning to say "no" to alcohol. It will always be a
choice, and it is these choices that determine one's
character.
I understand the
negative consequences of alcohol; they have been preached to
us for years at school. As an athlete, I have signed a
contract that prohibits the use of alcohol. I have witnessed
kids ruin their sport seasons for violating the contract.
That was a choice. My commitment to my teammates is enough
to steer me away from drinking. It also helps that I have
surrounded myself with friends who think the same way. There
is power in numbers, and I use that to my
advantage.
Kids choose to be
ignorant. We know, or can feel, when a party might get out
of control. Even with that knowledge, kids choose to go to
these parties and run the risk of drinking. I know I have
gone to a couple parties knowing I will have a few drinks On
the few occasions I have gone to parties, I have been with
my family and I make sure I am with people I trust. I have
never been drunk, or close to it. I know my limits and
boundaries. Everyone does. There is some truth in the saying
"drinking is fun" because it can loosen people up, but I
completely disagree with people who abuse it. There are
other ways to reach that "natural high" that are much safer.
As we grow up, we fill
face the peer pressure of drinking. What will make us walk
away are our morals and the value we put in commitments,
such as athletic contracts. I have the confidence in myself
to trust my instincts and choose not to drink in a way that
will harm my future. Everyone can make that choice for
themselves, and that is what it takes to say "no" to
alcohol.
Ninth
Place - Anonymous 8
Teenagers today seem
more and more prone to drinking. I remember looking up to my
two older brothers when I was in elementary school thinking
I wanted to be just like them. Them and all their friends
never drank, never smoked anything, and never did anything
illegal. I bet it's because of the examples they had when
they were young. Now, little kids already know what all
those things are. They think it's cool. That's because of
how the older kids act now and their parents. Kids tend to
be just like their examples when they grow up. I've had too
very opposite examples for as long as I can
remember.
My parents have
honestly never been drunk their whole lives, literally. I
couldn't ask for a better example from both of them. My
brother, Mark, is completely the opposite. He has told me
that he really cannot think of a drug he hasn't done. For
the past five years I don't even know if I've seen him
without alcohol is his system.
Mark used to get
really mad when he drank. I could completely stay out of his
way and he would still find reasons to come find me and pick
a fight. I can remember many times hiding in my parents'
room with my sister while my dad had to hold Mark down so he
couldn't get to my sister and me. The day I saw Mark hurt my
mom was the day I decided alcohol was never going to be in
my life. He has ruined every single birthday, wedding,
anniversary and dance in my family. He gets drunk and gets
jealous and mad if the attention isn't on him, so he causes
a scene.
One New Year's Eve, he
got so drunk he didn't know how to keep himself up. He tells
everyone he just slipped on an icy deck, but really he was
just drunk. He fell over and hit his head on a wooden
planter. He had to go to the emergency room that night and
get staples in his head.
Seeing Mark hurt
himself, my family, and me has made me see what lengths a
person can go to when their drunk. That, and my parents' way
of living has helped me stay away from the whole "party
scene." Mark, my friends, and even enemies have tried to
make me drink with them. I've always told them no. I've had
two very different examples in my life. Teens now need to
think more about the examples their giving. Who knows who
I'd be today without my parents' example?
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