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THROUGH MY EYES
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Dedication
To Brookings/Harbor students who have
been injured, abused, violated or have
died in alcohol related incidents.

Preface

Anonymous 1 - 8th Runner-up
Anonymous 2
Anonymous 3
Anonymous 4
Cassie Ekwall
Anonymous 6
Anonymous 7 - 6th Runner-up
Anonymous 8
Anonymous 9
Anonymous 10 - 5th Runner up
Anonymous 11
Anonymous 12
Anonymous 13
Anonymous 14
Anonymous 15 - 3rd Runner-Up
Anonymous 16
Anonymous 17 - 7th Runner-up
Anonymous 18 - 4th Runner-up
Anonymous 19
Anonymous 20
Anonymous 21
Matt Miller - 1st Runner-up
Anonymous 23 - Grand Prize Winner
Marc Shepherd
Kelli Moore - 2nd Runner-up

Acknowledgments

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Anonymous 1
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We’re going for a ride, just me, Mommy and, my little sister. We don’t drive for long and are soon at a store I’ve never seen before; I wish I could read. Mommy quickly turns around in her seat and says, “Stay, I’ll be right back." We sit and wait for what seemed like forever!

Here she comes, she has something; it’s a brown paper bag. She gets in the car, I ask, “What did you get Mommy?” She does not answer; she only continues to drink from her paper bag. We’re driving around silently; I don’t understand why mommy won’t share her drink with us.

Mommy starts to pull into the driveway but does not remove her seat belt. She is looking at me very angrily. I now understand that she intends to leave my sister and myself here by ourselves. What I don’t understand is why she would leave a two year old and a six year old home alone. All I know is that my sister needs me to take care of her, she is just as confused as I am but more so.

Mommy hasn’t come home yet and it’s almost dark. Daddy should be home from work soon and will be mad that mommy left us alone. My auntie has always told me that if we get scared to call her and she will come and get us. It’s been a couple of hours and I’ve finally decided to call her. She seems very worried that mommy had left. She asked me where we went today, I told her about the store and the strange paper bag. She quickly responds saying she would be there in a couple minutes.

She wasn’t lying, she’s here and it seemed like no time at all. She pulls in and I immediately run to her and start to sob. She does nothing but holds me and says everything is going to be ok. My sobs are interrupted by the sound of Daddy’s truck. He begins pulling into the driveway; he and auntie make eye contact. Why is Daddy so sad? Why is auntie leaving?

Mommy’s car then pulls into the driveway. Mommy is in the passenger seat and it looks like she’s sleeping. Is mommy sick? What is wrong? Dad goes outside; he picks mom up and takes her to their room. He lays her down turns to me and says, “Mommy needs to sleep now.” Auntie looks at me, she can see the hurt and fear in my eyes, she knows that mommy scares me when she is like this; she knows mommy is like this a lot. She goes into my room, packs some clothes for my sister and me, turns to us and says, “Come on, you’re staying at my house tonight. Auntie’s house makes everything better.

As I grew older I had learned that on that night my mom was drinking alcohol while she was driving. My aunt had found her and her car parked in an empty parking lot. I’m not the only person whose life has been affected by alcohol but I wish I was the last.

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Anonymous 2
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 The sound of his fists pounding on the door echoed into the closet, with each one the door shook. “Mommy my head hurts,” a sad little girl struggled to say through her sobs. “Its okay baby, we’re safe in here.” The girl’s mother tried to soothe her, but her attempts were lost behind the man’s drunken words.

“Would it help if we sang a song sweetie?” the girl’s mother asked.

“Can we sing my favorite song?”

So they sang; “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You’ll never know dear how much I love you. So don’t take my sunshine away.” They sang for what seemed like hours; while the girl’s father attempted to yell and punch his way through the door.

The young girl stopped singing and asked her mother why her daddy is a bad man. Her mom started to speak, then paused, and started over.

“Your father makes a lot of bad choices when he drinks. He can’t seem to get enough, even though it makes him feel bad, and angry.”

“Is that why he hits you; because he’s angry? You didn’t do anything wrong, did you Mommy?”

“No sweetie, Daddy is just angry with himself and can’t control what he does or what he says, especially when he drinks.”

The little girl’s questions continued, like the sound of her father’s fists on the door. However, her words were soft and filled with worry. The girl wanted to know why her daddy wanted to hurt her mommy, and why he needed to be so loud all the time. She just wanted to know why. Her questions stopped, when she heard sirens. The sirens seemed to be getting louder; they sounded like they were right outside their house. Moments later they heard more yelling. These words weren’t slurred; they were clear and forceful.

The police entered the house, placed her father in handcuffs, and removed him from their house. After the little girl’s father was removed, her mother carried her out of their hiding place. The young girl’s father would only be allowed to visit her on two conditions; he had to go to AA meetings regularly and their visits had to be monitored.

It’s been 12 years since the little girl’s father has taken a drink. He says that it is the best thing he has ever done with his life. Because of the support he got in AA, he is now allowed to be a part of his daughter’s life.

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Anonymous 3
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Summer had just begun, I just finished my freshman year and unfortunately all my friends just finished with their senior year so it was going to be our last summer with all of us together. Everyone but me was going off to college. There was a house party up river the night school got out. To celebrate everyone's graduation we decided to go. We all got ready together then before the party we stopped at another friends house along the way. We were greeted by beer and shots, since I was pretty new to all the partying and drinking, I'll admit I am a light weight and I was already kind of drunk. So I decided to lay off it for a while. As we were getting ready to leave I watched my so called designated driver pound a couple shots. I asked her if we should call someone to pick us up but she said she was fine.

"I didn't even have that many."

We must have made it no more than 10 miles before all I cold see was moving ground and trees passing by, all I knew was we were rolling off the road. We must have taken a corner a little too fast, the back tires hit gravel and the car slid off a cliff into some trees and brush. We must have rolled a good three to four times before the car finally came to a horrific stop. Amazingly everyone seemed to be fine for the most part. The three girls in the back had an easy way out because the window was already shattered and large enough for them to crawl out, but the roof was caved in which made it nearly impossible for us in the front to open any doors, we had to break the drivers side window and crawl out, getting us pretty cut up. We got up to the top of the hill and looked down at the mess, shocked we survived. The car was done for, that we were sure of. Every side caved in and dented up, the roof, all the windows knocked out. The funny part is not one of the air bags came out. We probably walked 4 or 5 miles before we could pick up any cell service to have someone come get us. I got a hold of one of my good friends that lives up river and he came to our rescue. Lucky for us he was an EMT at one time and knew just how to fix us up. Which ended up saving us a humiliating trip to the hospital to explain ourselves. We got pretty lucky, all we came out with were some cuts, bruises, a couple black eyes and bloody noses none of all too serious.

A lot of people who choose to drink and drive had had much worse consequences. Not only what we did was illegal, it was dangerous and stupid, we could have been killed! The car stayed there and we kept our story to ourselves for years. Every year over 25,000 people are killed in alcohol related accidents. That's close to 500 a week and over 70 people a day, don't take that kind of risk. It was a crazy way to kick off my summer and I got pretty lucky, but not everyone does so I wouldn't recommend trying it. If you do, at least make sure you have a responsible, designated driver.

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Anonymous 4
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The three of us say in my grandparents Lincoln as we headed to the inner city of Grants Pass. My uncle sat in the back while I drove and my Grandpa rode shotgun. One month earlier my uncle would be driving, had he not got pulled over that night.

My uncle is the clown that every family seems to have, the one that is always making jokes and poking fun at everyone. He is also the one that usually makes family dinners worth while because he is so funny. I can remember many Christmas and Thanksgivings dinners just sitting at the table and seeing my entire family laughing over funny things that my uncle would say about almost anything, he has bee the highlight of many family events, until this last year.

The night it happened my uncle had gone to a bar and had drove his own truck there and had probably been at there for a few hours and when he was done he decided that he was safe enough to drive home, but apparently the cop that drove behind him didn't think so, which was why we were on this trip now. This was my uncle's second offense of driving under the influence of alcohol and he now had to go to court for it. The judge decided that he needed a years suspended license and a fine that cut into a loan they had taken out to remodel my aunt and uncles house. My grandma was the most disappointed when she found out, she felt like a failure at raising her son and proceeded to stay in bed for a few days because her depression got so bad. My grandpa also was disappointed and proceeded to tell my uncle how he felt about it for the entire ride home. My uncle didn't have much to say about it.

The sad truth is, his mistake affected everyone in our family from the first day it happened. I was now the one who had to drive his daughter to school most mornings because he was unable to drive. His wife had the extra responsibility of driving him where he needed to go and doing all the errands because he had no way of getting anywhere.

When my uncle chose to drink that night he cost everyone, not just himself. My family has had to pay for that night for a year now just because he wanted to have a good time. But that good time has made a hardship for everyone who was in immediate relation to him, just because of a couple of drinks.

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Cassie Ekwall
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Growing up, alcohol was all around me. It affect on me was the least of my worries it was all I knew. I never thought it was bad or harmful, but that proved wrong many times. Even after all the mistakes I made I still would drink. I don't know why teens feel the need to drink. It could be to fit in, enjoyment, let loose, to forget their worries, or to forget the situation their in at the time. Teens shouldn't have to resort to drinking in order to forget they're problems. Drinking can never make a person happy, all it really does is set them up for failure. So why doesn't the community try and help?

Growing up as child I was taught right from wrong, but that soon changed when my parents got divorced. My mother was a bartender and my father was always away on business, therefore I had no supervision. This allowed me to do whatever I wanted, and drinking was what I chose to do. With my mom being a bartender she drank all the time. An eighteen rack is what she finished everyday before the night was over. With my father being gone all the time he had no idea of what was really going on in our household. People would show up at our house everyday, drink with my mom, then pass out, this went on for two years. With my father working as much as he did we saw him twice a month, if we were lucky. There was no disciplining us when he had no clue of what was going on.

When people drink, whether it's an adult, or a teen, their whole attitude changes. When I drink, I feel like I'm on top of the world, indestructible, and no one can stop me . As do most people. I've fought my boyfriends, random girls,my sister, even my own mother. These are some things I would have never even thought about doing if I was sober. Drinking can lead to rape, violence, murder, abuse,and addiction. The thing I don't understand is why none of these things ever enter our mind at the time, we just seem to block them out. There is a less than likely chance of these things happening though when you are not under the influence.

I think teens drink most of the time for fun, but sometimes it's for more personal reasons. Growing up can be really stressful as a child. Teens today see all kinds of things that we don't take into account enough. Watching your parents have a drug or substance abuse problem affects a child more than you think. They grow up watching their parents abuse drugs and alcohol and end up following the same path. Teens tend to drink because they think there is no other way to cope with their problems. Is this true? Sadly, it is for a lot of our teens;maybe our parents should be trying to set better examples for us to follow.

Does our community really care about our teens? I personally don't think they do enough. If they did, finding a job in this town wouldn't be so hard. Giving teens a place to go and hang out would be available for them. As a community we need to get more involved; there needs to be more affordable activities teens can participate in. Living in a small town is beneficial in some ways but not many. After looking back on my past and the mistakes I have made, I have learned alot about myself. Being a senior in high school has really opened my eyes to the person I was and the person I've become. I think there is a way we just need help finding it. If you care about your children's future and the generations yet to come, you will do something about it. Watch what you do around them, because it has been proven that what you do they too will follow. 

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Anonymous 6
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My boyfriend and I lived ten hours apart for the year and a half of our relationship. He was a heavy drinker which caused us to argue a lot. The arguing only led to more drinking. Sometimes when he would get really drunk his attitude would completely change. At times I felt like he didn’t care about my feelings. He usually couldn’t even remember what we had talked about by the next morning. I remember getting so frustrated with him. But I knew that he had been drinking for a long time and it wouldn’t be easy for him to just stop. I decided it would be better to just let it go. So that is what I did, I kept my feelings held back about it for a long time. I acted like it didn’t bother me, but he could tell it did.

After a while we started arguing more. Both of us felt like we were starting to drift apart. And we even had to take a break for about two months. Some of it was probably just the fact that it was long distance, but I believe most of it was because of drinking. We both missed each other a lot and knew if we wanted to save our relationship he would have to move up here and stop drinking.

He started looking for jobs here and found one within two months. The guy wanted him to start right away, so about a week later he was here. Since he got here everything has been so perfect. He hasn’t taken a drink in four months. He got a job that he is really happy with and we barley ever argue anymore. At least when we do it has nothing to do with alcohol. I am so happy that he is here now and we were able to save our relationship. We have been together for two years now and are planning to move soon.

I believe that alcohol was the main problem that caused the arguing. I am so glad its out of the picture. Now he is keeping a job and I can tell he is a lot happier with himself. He is getting his bills paid off and getting his education. Now that he hasn’t been drinking he realized what it did to him all of his life and he is changing it all around. When he was drinking he was so unhappy with the way he looked, he would complain about his skin always being red and being overweight. Now that he stopped drinking he has lost weight and he is a lot happier with the way he looks. When he first moved here he had absolutely no money. He has told me before he got here he could never keep more than two hundred dollars in his pocket, and had only ever had one bank account which was over drawn. He said almost all the money he got when to drinking. I am so happy for him and he is also very happy. Now he can live a normal life and have a bright future

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Anonymous 7
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I'm drinking and partying again. He's watching me, eyes full of desire. I don't mind: I like this attention. I eel sexy, empowered, wanted. Next thing I know I'm drunk and we're kissing. He leads me into a room. We're on the bed. It's okay though because I can stop whenever I want to. Truth is I don't want to stop. I love the way I'm making him feel. I feel needed, even if just for a night.

I wake up the next morning. He's in the bed with me. My clothes are on. I'm thankful yet disgusted with the situation. I sneak out of the room, careful not to wake him. I don't want to talk about it, don't what to think about it, just want to leave. I take a shower but it doesn't wash away what happened. Maybe it wouldn't feel as bad if this were one of the first times. But it's not. As I'm in the shower I think back to the time I got so drunk I cheated on one of my most serious boyfriends, or the time that I was drinking and got taken advantage of by one of my childhood friends, and while he got labeled a stud, I was labeled a whore. Not to mention the other countless times I've drank to hook up with people just to feel needed and wanted.

Unfortunately this is a typical story for a high school girl. Thankfully, nothing life threatening or significantly life changing happened to me before my eyes opened. I realized on my own and with the help of true friends that I'm better than that. Although the reasons for all my actions are not always clear, one thing is, if alcohol had not been present, none of it would have happened.

Being in high school is one of the most difficult times as an adolescent, and with alcohol being available around every corner it doesn't make it much easier. Alcohol, (which sometimes seems a temporary fix to permanent problems) is just one reason teens start to drink. The media does not help this problem either. With popular song lyrics such as "Lets get drunk and forget what we did," egging us on all the time, it's very hard to resist the temptation to drink.

So this is my cry to high school girls: I know what it feels like to lose yourself, but please don't turn to alcohol as an escape. It not only can make you do things that you are ashamed of, but you may find yourself in a worse state of mind than you began with. The attention you get from boys while consuming alcohol is fake and temporary no matter that they may say. Take time to discover your true passions in life. Surround yourself with activities that don't involve drinking but give you just as much satisfaction. You owe it to yourself. And if you think that it's too late to get out of it, it's not. You just have to open your eyes.

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Anonymous 8
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Alcohol has been very negative in my life, but I have learned many things through it. It has made me realize that I should be more careful about who I trust and who my friends are.

One night my best girlfriend and I decided to go over to one of our friend's house. We hung out there most of the night. My friend started to get really bored, she wanted to leave to one of her friend's house and she wanted me to go with her. I did not want to leave, and I knew that I shouldn't because I had been drinking a lot and I couldn't drive. She kept trying to get me to leave wit her, so finally I gave in and I drove us to where she wanted to go. But I never thought it would end up the way it did.

Once we got to her friends house we ended up drinking more. I did not want to drink any more, but they got me to. Hours went by and I started to get tired: II wanted to go home and got to bed but I knew that I could not drive. So I stayed at the house with my friend. My stomach started to hurt, so I decided to go outside and make myself throw up. I did not know that anyone was following me.

He was being nice. He held my hair out of my face, but after I was done he tried to kiss me. I said, "No." He was fine with it, so he helped me up the stairs and onto the bed where I started to fall asleep. My friend ended up leaving me there alone with here friends that I thought were my friends also.

Everyone had fallen asleep or so I thought. The next thing I remember is that a different guy lay on the bed by me and tried to touch me but I said, "No." He did not like that answer. I said it many times, but he would not listen. Some people started to wake up and that is when he covered my mouth and told me to "Shut Up." I was scared.

I woke up the next morning with my cell phone alarm clock going off for me to leave. I got out of the bed, grabbed my stuff and left. I knew what happened the night before. I started to cry. I could not talk to anyone about it. Not even my friend.

My father found out soon after that. He wanted to kill the guy. I would not tell him who it was. It is one night that I never want to happen again. So now I stay away from drinking, and being around people that I don't really know.

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Anonymous 9
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I wish I had a mom who didn’t yell at me for no reason or pick me up from school drunk. I wish I had a mom who took an interest in me, who didn’t just pawn me off on someone else when I needed some attention. I wish I had a mom who was sober.

The first memory I have of when my mom took her alcoholism out on me was when I told her I thought I needed counseling. Her response was that I wouldn’t get any Christmas presents if I did. It went down hill from there. She would have blackouts where it seemed like a completely new person was in our home. The next day she would apologize for her behavior, whether she remembered it or not. She was very sincere about it. It was like she was my mom; the mom I knew in the mornings before school; the mom who would hang out and laugh with me about anything.

Another incident took place not too long ago. I was laying in bed reading my Bible like any other night, but out of no where my mom quietly peeks her head in my room and says “see you in heaven”. I didn’t know what to say so I told her she was crazy and to get out of my room. All night I tossed and turned worrying about whether or not my mom was still going to be alive when I wake up the next day. I decided to walk to school the next morning instead of trying to get her to drive me. Her depression was getting so bad that all she wanted to do was sleep and drink. So I let her sleep in hope that the more she slept the less she would drink. All day at school I was wondering whether or not I still had a mom. Thank God she was sound asleep when I got home.

Over the years my resentment towards my mother has grown immensely. Trying to be the star child all my life was starting to get old. Everything I did was good, but never good enough, so instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided I would put my energy into helping children of alcoholics. I started by being a big sister. A mentor to my neighbors’ six year old daughter and eleven year old son. Mainly just trying to be there for them and give the attention when their mom is too drunk to care.

I also attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to get better insight about the disease of alcoholism. Witnessing these meeting opened my eyes to the way alcohol ruins families. Along with that, they made me realize that people really can change.

This is what gives me home day to day the eventually my mom will hit rock bottom and seek help to arrest her alcoholism. When that time comes I plan to fully support her in any way possible. Whether it be visiting her in a rehabilitation center or just giving her a hug.

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Anonymous 10
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My dad is an alcoholic. I don’t know exactly how old I was when I realized all of the anger and frustration came from alcohol, but what I do know is I grew up afraid of my dad and that feeling was the worst feeling imaginable!

Alcohol ruined my childhood, and I didn’t drink a drop. I remember finding beer cans under the bathroom sinks and hard alcohol bottles under some newspaper in the garage or shed. My mom tried telling my dad to get help but he always insisted he didn’t have a problem and he would just stop drinking altogether. That never lasted.

I was 15 years old, I remember because I had just got my permit. I know when my dad started to play rough with my little sisters that he’d been drinking. One night in particular I was feeling brave and decided to tell my dad how I felt. I told him when he drank too much he always hurt my little sisters and it needed to stop. He started to yell and he told me he wasn’t drunk even though he was almost falling over with every step. He was completely wasted and everyone in the house knew it. He got closer and closer to me and grabbed my arm, I yanked away and ran downstairs to my mom. She heard what was going on upstairs and went towards my dad to talk to him. As she was walking towards him she saw he was heading towards the gun safe. Barefooted and scared for our lives we ran out the back door, got into my mom’s car, and drove away as fast as we could. That night we ended up staying at a hotel, we thought it best to let my dad cool down before we went back. The next morning we drove home and found that the doors were all locked. We knocked and he came to the door after just waking up. We went in, he went back to bed, and that night was never talked about again.

I wish I could say that was the only thing that ever happened when my dad drank, but that was just a minor instance. I don’t know why my dad went towards that gun safe, but I do know that alcohol changes people for the worse. Sober, my dad was an amazing person. But when he drank he became abusive and caused his family to walk on eggshells around him in fear that he would snap at any moment. For the past year or so my dad has cut down on his drinking and has not laid a hand on me or my sisters for some time. I believe when he chose to drink less, he chose to save our family. I have so much respect for him for making the right decision. I love my dad unconditionally and think he is incredible person, I just wish he would have realized sooner that alcohol was killing the people that loved him the most.

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Anonymous 11
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Alcohol has had a negative effect on my life for many years. Alcohol changed my life at 18 months old, that is when my mom and dad got separated. Because of alcohol I didn't have a dad growing up. It was hard to see everyone else playing with there dad's in the park, it seemed like I was the only kid without a dad. I never understood why my mom left him, I was always asking her why. When I was old enough she finally told me he drank too much and when he drank he was mean and violent, he wasn't the same person with alcohol in him. It was still hard for me to understand because I never saw him like, deep down I knew she was right from all the stories I heard.

As I grew older I wanted to go live with my dad but I was scared I didn't know if we would get along, I didn't want to leave my mom, family or my friends. When I was 16 my mom and I started arguing a lot and we both needed a break. This was my chance to finally get to know my dad. I moved out to Oregon with him and I was 17. When I first got to Oregon I had to get use to the small town environment and I wasn't use to how they lived, I missed my mom a lot. My dad and step mom weren't home very much they were at the bar all the time. I wasn't used to that my mom wasn't a drinker. When I would talk to my dad about his drinking he would tell me he would cut back on going to the bar, but that only lasted a week or so before they were back at the bar. My step mom and I got into an argument and things have never been the same. I would stay at my brothers or my boyfriends house for as long as possible before I had to go home, I didn't like being around when they were drunk. I would lye in bed some night wondering if my dad was going to be home or not. I don't like my dad going to the bar almost every night but I can't control him. It's his decisions he is making. Other kids shouldn't have to wonder where there dad is, so make the right decision and don't become an alcoholic like my dad. It doesn't just affect you it affects everyone around you.

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Anonymous 12
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One weekend my friend Naomi and I were in Medford hanging out with two of our friends. The weekends were always boring in our own town, so we were looking forward to the change. We were at our friends house where everyone was drinking alcohol. Naomi and I decided to drink a little bit since everyone else was. After a while, our two friends had consumed a large amount of alcohol. They were running short on beer, so they decided to go get some more. I knew in the back of my mind that they should not be drinking and driving; but they drove off anyway, in spite of our concerns. I guess they cared more about drinking than their own safety.

About a half hour later we received a call from them informing us that they had wrecked their truck. They didn’t have any insurance on the vehicle, so they decided to flip the truck back over and drive off. The truck was damaged, but still operable. They both had some cuts on their head that were bleeding, but they thought they would be fine. They came back to their house where Naomi and I were waiting for them.

Even though they had just experienced a car crash, they still continued drinking more alcohol. After another two hours of drinking, one of our friends began to black out. We were worried about him. He didn’t normally act like that even when he was drunk. He wasn’t waking up, so we decided to call the ambulance. The EMT’s showed up and took our friend away to the hospital.

We later found out that he had alcohol poisoning. The loss of blood from the crash earlier made it easy for him to get alcohol poisoning, especially with the amount of alcohol he had consumed that evening. This experience showed me that alcohol can make you do things that you would not normally do. A lot of the time it can put you, and others, in danger. I don't think drinking alcohol is worth the consequences that come with it.

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Anonymous 13
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While I myself have been fortunate enough not to have been impacted directly by alcohol, it gave me a good perspective on the horrendous effect it can cause to others.

Many of my parent's friends drink as well as my parents and at times they can consume large amounts of alcohol, but they are smart about it also. Things like getting a taxi and not doing stupid things. Even though they do this they still carry on normal life so it does tell me you can drink but know yours limits.

On the other hand I know many people that will drink themselves to death and not even be safe about it. They are nothing about the consequences nor the impact they may have on others. Throughout my life in school, all the guest speakers I have listened to and reports I've had to write really have made me stray away from alcohol. It just seems there is more negative consequences from drinking then positive. And thankfully I have many hobbies I would rather be doing than getting drunk. Too many times I've heard of parties going wrong someone dies, cops come, a serious injury. If you manage to get through all that a great hangover the next morning. While many people don't see it the way I do I'm glad I'm fortunate enough to see it this way. Maybe it was my parents that helped me or the school, guess I will never really know. If you know your body and personal limits however I feel you can safely drink fairly often and still maintain a healthy life as well as a little enjoyment from it. But unfortunately many people cannot do this.

To sum it all up, drunk drives, alcoholics, death, hangovers, trouble with the law and health problems. All that and more just doesn't seem worth it to me maybe that seems to appeal to others but not me. Sure some people will never be affected by alcohol but I'd rather not take the risk. So far I've managed to stay away from it and hopefully I can continue to as well as my friends.

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Anonymous 14
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The whole night was a big blur. I remember twisting the cap to the enormous bottle of Jack Daniel's, over & over again. Slowly the bottle began to empty. I knew that I had to stop soon. The alcohol was already taking over my body.

“Bet you can’t finish this off,” one of the boys teased.

He handed me the bottle of I don’t know what. I didn’t care though, I remember that.

I stared into the campfire and began to chug. Down, down went the toxic liquid. I wiped my face and grinned at the boy.

Everyone seemed impressed, and I was proud myself. I really wasn’t planning on getting that drunk. I was beyond gone, past hammered; I was pretty much done.

The rest of the events that took place I don’t remember. Bits and pieces of things, but for the most part I completely blacked out.

Apparently I was obnoxious and quote “ Out of control.” But what do people expect when one consumes as much alcohol as I had? I wouldn’t say that makes it right, not at all. But after that alcohol is running through your body, time is the only thing to help.

The last brief thing I remember was being in a tent. I was on top of this guy named Jim. I thought he was way cute at the beginning of the night. I didn’t know what was going on at all. I had no sense from right or wrong.

The next morning I woke up. My head throbbed as I set up. I knew I must’ve drank a lot, I hardly remembered a thing.

Jim was asleep next to me. I wondered what had happened. I began to investigate. My pants were on, but unzipped. My bra? No where to be found. I found my shirt on the other side of the tent. I snatched it and threw it on. I glanced back to see what Jim was wearing. Nothing but a pair of pale blue boxer shorts. I shuddered.

I stumbled out of the tent and threw up on the river bar. My body ached. I looked at my knees. Blood had soaked through my jeans. I rolled my pants up, bruises and scrapes everywhere.

I gathered my belongings and walked to my car. I had to be at work by eight and it was already seven thirty. That was the least of my worries at this point

I mustered up the courage to call Jim later that day. I grabbed the phone and slowly dialed his number.

Ring. Ring. Ring. I was just about to hang up when he answered.

“Hey,” I mumbled.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“I’m sorry, but what all happened last night?”

Silence. My palms were sweaty and I was shaking. Why was it taking him this long to reply?

“ Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” he said in a dull tone.

I hung up. I wanted to believe what he had just said, I really did.

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Anonymous 15
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I will never forget that morning I got the call. The call that told me I had lost one of my best friends. Anyone who knew Peter was lucky. He was someone you wanted to be around because is personality was infectious and he made everyone around him happy. The only thing was his happy personality was not all real, but merely a mask to hide what was underneath, which was sadness. He was so much pain and he wanted nothing more but to get rid of it. Eventually peter found a way to hide his pain. What was his short-term cure? Alcohol. What in turn killed him?

Alcohol. Little did he know that alcohol was really what was making him more depressed. He didn’t realize that though, because when he drank it made him feel happy and normal. He became an alcoholic. Nobody knew how sad he was. I knew. I knew the pain he was in. I tried to help him as much as I could but my trying never succeeded. As much as I tried and as much effort as he put into it, he just couldn’t . he wanted so desperately to stop but his addiction was to strong. When he wasn’t drinking he felt helpless.

I blamed myself for peters death for so long because all I could keep telling myself is that you could have tried a little harder. It was so hard to watch him drink because every sip he took you knew he was just trying to drink away his problems. I remember one time in particular when I was staying at his house with his sister and we had just fallen asleep. Peter quietly snuck into the room like he did every time I stayed there and asked me to come watch t.v. with him. He used to make me stay up all night and talk with him no matter how tired I was. That’s how we became so close. So as we were watching t.v he got up and said he was hungry. I knew what he was doing, so I got up and went into the kitchen and I saw him standing there in the dark chugging a bottle of vodka. When he realized I was standing there he quickly put it behind his back as if I wouldn’t know. before I could say anything he told me how sorry he was. I knew he didn’t want to disappoint me and I knew he thought he had. I just hugged him and told him he didn’t have to be sorry. I wish now that I would have taken that bottle away. Peter was intoxicated the night he died. He just wanted to take a “drive” with his friends. Because of alcohol peter could not function normally to drive and was driving to fast. Because of alcohol he was unable to see the turn ahead of him, and he missed it. Because of alcohol he went straight into the embankment. Because of alcohol peter lost his life. Alcohol is deadly and because of its negative effects I lost my best friend.

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Anonymous 16
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Of course the first few times were stupidly fun, but none of it was worth it to me. Right as I’m writing this I can think of a few friends that are wasting away their lives on alcohol. I’ve been there and done that, and I know how harmful it can really be. I know I have the genes for alcoholism on both sides of my family. That’s why I try to stay away from it as much as I can.

It has always been a part of my life as long as I can remember. My mother has way more of an alcohol problem than my dad. I think the first thing that I can remember about alcohol affecting my life badly is when I was really little and sick. I remember feeling really sick to my stomach and just wanting my mom. I couldn’t find her in the house so I went out to the garage and of course she was out there drinking. At first I was mad at her for being drunk, but then I remembered that I was sick. I tried telling her to come inside because I felt like I was going to throw up. I think she just kept telling me to hold on. Finally I had to go to the bathroom, I tried yelling for her one last time but it didn’t quite sound right because I threw up all over the floor.

It’s not like my mom is abusive or anything, but my sisters and I have got in a lot of fights with her over alcohol. I have seen a lot of people get very violent when they drink. Actually it was just recently that my mom has got her drinking under control. Before this though when I was in middle school I always hated when my mom would drink while my friends were over. Most of my friends just thought it was funny but to me she just looked like an idiot. So I never really had any friends over because I was so embarrassed of her, which doesn’t really make you feel good about yourself.

When I think about my past situation I realize that it’s not that bad. I bet so many people out there have it worse than me and get abused and neglected. I hate alcohol; it just doesn’t make any sense to me why alcohol is even legal. People who drink for fun or are severe alcoholics don’t realize how they are hurting the people they love.

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Anonymous 17
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Of all social pressures that plague our youth today, Alcohol is the hardest one to avoid. I know all to well. Growing up the way me and my peers did, we had more access to glimpses of the adult world then any generations before us. We can turn on any TV station, go on-line, and watch people get hammered. Alcohol has been used in pop culture more then any other illicit pleasure. From the National Lampoon wild, crazy frat boy movies, Homer Simpson and his love of Duff Beer, and even a TV show about a bar where everyone knew your name, Alcohol has been a substantial part of pop culture for years. So naturally, I decided when I was young to imitate my heroes. Like a young boy throwing a towel around his neck to be superman, I decided to take Jaeger shots. The first encounter with alcohol I had was at a hotel. Me and my friends had rented a room to party. We had our good supply of assorted Beer and Spirits, and some marijuana. We were set to roll. I don't remember too much of that night. I remember one of our friends had the genius idea to blow fireballs with the booze in his mouth, and set the fire alarm off. I stumbled down to the beach with my friend and lit up a cigarette. I ended waking up in an empty hot tub, my face sprinkled with crumbs of Chili Cheese Corn Chips.

After that party, I had to walk home. The cold morning air set the mood for some reflective thinking, in which I started thinking about the night before. Granted, though it was fun at the time, I couldn't help but feel bad. I walked by people in the street, and they would wave, people I knew, and they never knew I was hungover. Then I got a feeling like I was scum. I had to get my kicks using cheap substances, load myself with illicit toxins, forget about life. Real life. I felt like I missed the point of what life was about, and how I destroyed my sense of ever having natural pleasure again. It's a weird feeling. I was a criminal. What I did was a somewhat severe crime. It doesn't seem like much, but I ended up having these weird paranoid thoughts. I had visions of Police Officers busting into the hotel room and beating me with nightsticks. And then I came to reality. I think the worst part of the entire morning after was going home, and not being able to tell anyone what I did. I had this real low criminal feeling, and everyone was so oblivious. Granted, that wouldn't be the last time I drank, but I soon realized as my senior year approached, that binge drinking and getting high was only a cheap form of escape. Anybody can pump their self full of intoxicants. It takes a real person to find joy in natural things.

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Anonymous 18
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Alcohol and my life, I guess you could say they kind of go together. My life has been affected by alcohol in more than one way. It’s sad really.

Lets start with my parents. My father, a 48 year old man; no job, life, or friends. This is all due to his severe addiction to alcohol. My mom and him divorced when my twin brother and I were 5.

Not just because of his addiction, sadly my mom has the same problem. My mother, a 44 year old bartender, got stuck with the genetics of her alcoholic parents, also known as the “alcohol gene”. I am happy though that her problem is not severe, and is easily fixed because she has two active teens that keep her busy.

So now after seeing alcohol at it’s worst, affecting the people that I love, you’d think I would stay away from the terrible drug. Wrong. Well sort of.

A night that I would like to call the worst night of my life was all due to alcohol and it’s bad affects. December 2nd , 2006, I’ll never forget it. That was the first time I had ever drank. Also the first time I felt what alcoholism could do to someone, and also the very last time I will ever touch it. The night started out with two of my good friends and I driving around doing absolutely nothing. We ended up at the beach and saw a friend we don’t usually consult with. She told us about how she was going to be babysitting and wanted us to hang out, she said “it would be fun.”

About an hour later we were at a vacant house with a 4 year old child, a few good friends, and unlimited alcohol. My friend Angela and I thought, well we have never done it before and one time won’t hurt anything. Sadly, we were wrong. We ended up drinking an excess amount and passing out. While we were still passed out, the ambulance, cops, and our parents showed up. Luckily, it was not bad enough for an emergency trip to the hospital.

The next morning was a nightmare. I woke up in my living room, sick as a dog. I immediately ran to my room and called a friend that did not drink, but was present. While I cried my eyes out, she told me the whole story. I never knew that alcohol has that large of an affect over your body. Two friends and I received MIP’s. That consisted of court dates, alcohol classes, and fines. All that and the knowledge that I hurt my friends, family, and my body. I realized that I would never do that again.

To this day, February 22nd 2008, I have not touched as much as a drop of alcohol.

When I said it was my first and last time drinking, I stuck to it. I still live in a small town where drinking is what teens do. I have proudly chosen to remain sober, even when my friends do not, that also resulting into my new nick name “#1 DD(designated driver).”

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Anonymous 19
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I spent most of my teenage years coming home from practice or school and going straight to my room because I knew as soon as my dad would come home the yelling would start. The yelling wasn't because he is an angry man; well he wasn't angry when he was sober. The yelling started because my mom was so upset about the fact that she would work all day and then come home and clean the house just to have wait for my dad to come home drunk and start an argument.

The arguments and the fighting pretty much became a routine in my house. My dad would come home drunk and that would make my mom mad so the fighting would start. I swear I must have heard about 5,000 divorce threats from 6th grade to 10th grade. After awhile I just seemed to ignore the fact that they were fighting.

After awhile it became so bad that I wouldn't even want to invite friends over because I didn't want them to see my parents fight because it would be so embarrassing for me.

I am very sad to admit this but probably the best day of my life was when my dad almost died. He was out in our shed when he lost his balance and fell of a very sharp object that made him lose so much blood his heart ended up stopping but luckily the doctors were able to have him. I'm very sad to say that but even since that night my dad has never had a drink since then and our family life has been so much better.

So I hope this will help open some parents eyes to how bad drinking really is. I can honestly say that looking back on it my dad now regrets every drink he took because he now knows how much it tore our family apart. But not only that, he now feels so much healthier and happy.

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Anonymous 20
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Four years. It may not seem like a long time to those of you who have lived a decent amount of years, but to a boy, no more than either when it started, those four years were an eternity. An eternity of suffering cause by a man transformed by alcoholism. The boy was told to hid the cause of his bruises, and he did. Going to school, acting like a normal child he continued living, tormented by abuse at home. The man who caused this was an alcoholic, a normal man who had one too many drinks far too often and became a monster. A mere shell of his former self, this man continued to hurt his family. Beating his wife and child in a drunken rage night after night until they finally had enough and left him. And while they finally separated their torment, the psychological damage that had been done to them could never be healed.

Situations like this happen all across the United States. People's lives have been and continue to be ruined by this drink, their judgment impaired, they poison their bodies and lose control of their actions. Good people have been turned into monsters by this seemingly harmless drink and they sometimes wind up damaging their lives, the people they care about, and in the end, themselves. In 2001, there were 75,766 deaths attributed to alcohol. 7,766 people whose lives were cut short resulting from the consumption of this drink. Alcohol affects us all. I'm not trying to tell you to abstain from drinking totally. I'm just trying to warn you of what could happen if your not careful. So next time you go down to the local bar for a drink with your buddies or go to a wild part with friends, be careful, for it may be your start down the long road to despair; one which you might not be able to get away from once started down.

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Anonymous 21
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David was on his bed crying. He had a bloody nose and bruises that looked like plums all over his body. David's father had gotten drunk and had beaten him. The sad thing was, it was all about him forgetting to do the trash. Both of them had been going through a rough time because David's mom had died recently . It had a huge effect on his father, and he started drinking then abusing his own son.

Teachers at school were getting concerned about the bruises and lack of sleep David had been getting the last two months. They asked David if everything was all right, but David would only say that he played sports and that was where the bruises came from. When they asked about the lack of sleep, he would change the subject to something else until the teachers got tired of asking him the same question. All of David's friends ware concerned about this, too. But they knew better than to ask him about the situation.

David was in his room doing his homework when his dad was screaming his name. David got tense and walked slowly down the stairs, scared. When he got down there, he found his dad fuming about the trash not taken out.

"I will take it out Dad," pleaded David, now getting scared for what was coming. He took out the trash, but when he came back in, his father wailed on him and called him names. After David's father quit hitting him, David put in a trash bag in the bin and went to his room. He was scared of the pain of getting hit, but the worst pain was that he thought his father didn't love him any more. That pain got to be unbearable.

The next day, the police were at David's school and waiting with the principal. They took David in Mr. Lusk's office to talk. David was getting uncomfortable because all of his friends had nice parents that care about them, but he only had a father who treated him like shit. It embarrassed him and made him feel lonely.

"I have brought the police here because I and my staff have noticed the lack of sleep and the bruises on your arms, legs and torso. We need to know what is happening so we can help you," said Mr. Luck, concerned.

It took David a while to say, but he told the police about his other's death and how it really affected his father. After his father got home from work, he would get drunk and start to hit him. It could last all night or just a few hits. David said that the only reason that he did not get much sleep is that he was up at night, worrying that his dad would come in his bedroom and kill him when he was sleeping. The police took David out of school and to the police station. They asked him where his dad worked at and he said there was a construction site out by the new restaurant. They arrested his father later that day. 

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Matt Miller
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It all started back when I _was four years of age. My father was starting to come home drunk more and more. He was very nice when he was sober, but when my uncle and he were together drinking things got out of hand. I can remember one night my sisters and I were in our room playing when my dad came through the door and started to beat us, because we were playing loudly with our toys. At first the beatings only happened once in a while, but as time went on, they started happening more often.

I remember one night, that my uncle and dad were in the living room drinking and things started getting crazy. I woke up from them being loud, and I walked out of my room to see what all the noise was, and it was my dad and my uncle having sex and they told me to come over there. I was too young to know what they were going to do to me, but when I got over there they started to take my clothes off. I started to yell; all of a sudden my dad hit me across the face and told me to be quiet. While my dad and my uncle raped me I was crying because of the pain in my face and what they were going to me because they were drunk.

The alcohol kept the beating coming until one day when I played with matches. When I got caught, I blamed it on my sister Amanda, and my dad took her out of the room. When he did that, he locked my sister and me in my room and took her in the kitchen. When he got her to the kitchen he turned the burner on and put both of her hands on the burner until they were almost third degree burnt. At that moment I had guilt for what I did and was so sorry. That day we were taken away from our parents and put in foster care for our first time.

So in my life I have had to deal with the effects that have come out of being abused both physically and sexually. Every day I have to look at myself in the mirror and see someone who has been used and abused for being born. I also have to live with what happened to my sister because of me. Today I am in my fourth foster home, because my sisters and I were abused by the family that adopted us. We have been back in foster care for almost a year again. Although life has been rough, we still manage to keep each other strong and are able to more on with life and everything that we are going through.

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Anonymous 23

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My mother married an alcoholic when I was two, and when I was five I received my first black eye. My step dad stumbled into the house from the bar around ten in the morning demanding I pour him a cup of coffee. He terrified me, and I always obeyed. He told me not to forget the sugar, and I started crying when I realized we had none left. I was only five years old and I didn't know what to do so I put salt in it instead. I very carefully set the cup of coffee next to him and ran to my room. Seconds later he was screaming for me to come to him. I was so scared, I hid under my bed hoping he wouldn't find me. Unfortunately that was my usual hiding spot and he found me right away. He pulled me out from under my bed by my hair; I screamed from the pain. He yelled at me to stop, but I kept trying to get away. I was scared of him, but I always tried to fight back. I kicked and screamed and threw my tiny fists at him, but none of this made a difference. Once more he said "Stop or else," and once again I kept fighting him. It was the greatest pain I ever felt when he hit me with his giant fist.

When my mother got home from work she saw my eye and started crying hysterically asking how it happened. At that very moment my step father walked into the room with his sly smile and told her I fell. I screamed at him and told my mother what really happened. Of course he denied everything and even had the nerve to put his arm around me as he said he would never dream of hurting his little angel. Like the enabler she was, my mother believed him. Deep down she knew he was lying, but she wanted so badly for it to be untrue that she sacrificed her child's safety for "the perfect family image." Later that week my step dad bought me one of those electric jeeps for little kids to drive. I didn't understand why he did that. I thought maybe it was his way of apologizing, so I just forgave and forgot.

On my mother's 32nd birthday we had a huge party; all her friends and family were invited. Like most celebrations, there was of course, plenty of alcohol. My mother was quite the lightweight, and she was really drunk by her fourth beer. After about seven beers and a couple shots she passed out. She was put to bed very early into the party by my aunt. The party was nowhere close to over for my step dad; he decided it was over when he ran out of alcohol to drink. When everyone left he tried looking for his hidden stash of whiskey, the stash my mother secretly poured down the sink. After searching and searching he knew that there was no way he would find it. He was used to blaming everything on me, so he automatically assumed it was me. I ran to my mother and tried to wake her but she wasn't waking up any time soon. My step father demanded that I told him that I got rid of it and very roboticly I obeyed. That's when he took off his thick leather belt and proceeded to whip my entire body until I bled. I was seven years old. He then told me that if I ever told anyone that he would kill my mother. I never told my mother; I was afraid he would seriously do it.

The physical abuse occured almost daily; I would get slapped around if I did so little as putting my elbows on the table. My mother just watched with tears in her eyes. When I was eight, my little sister was born, and that's when things sort of turned around. My step dad quit drinking and everyone seemed happier. I was the happiest. I loved my baby sister so much. I always wanted to be with her and help my mom with her. My mother always called me the "little mamma" and I was in a way; I watched over her as if I were her mother. My step dad would get really angry when she would cry late at night, so I would rush to her room and hold her so she would stop crying I was so afraid he might hurt her. When my little sister was six months old my step dad lost his job driving trucks and went back to drinking. Our family fell apart once again, and once again I had to go to school and convince the school counselor that my bruises were from playing rough with the boys, a lie I hated telling.

When I was ten my step dad put me in the hospital for burning his toast. That's when I had it, and I ran away to my uncle's house. And shortly after that we moved to Oregon. I lived here for about five years with my aunt and uncle. I worked all the time and mailed my mom all the money I earned. When I was fifteen my mom moved here with my sister to get away from my step dad. Things were great for a long time until my step dad found out where we were living. He was so angry that my mother left him he became a raging lunatic. He beat me so severely that I was in the hospital for two weeks. My mother finally got enough nerve to tell the police and he was put in jail. My mother is now remarried to a wonderful man who would never hurt my family.

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Marc Shepherd

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“No person under the age of 21 shall consume any alcoholic beverage.” It’s the law. Laws are put into place for a reason. This one especially. The legal age is 21 because most people under that age aren’t responsible enough to handle alcohol, and they will abuse it. Your body isn’t completely developed until you are 25 years old. Drinking alcohol a significant amount of time before this age can cause serious, long term problems.

Binge drinking is a serious problem in our society today. Binge drinkers are almost always addicted to alcohol and its effects. They stay drunk almost all of the time, and this often puts many innocent bystanders in risky situations.

As a teenager I feel constant peer pressure. The pressure to drink alcohol is by far the most frequent. I resist this pressure because although not all people are affected in a long term way, the possibility is always present. In fact, approximately 15% of drinkers will have an alcohol dependency problem. Alcohol can waste or even ruin many years of your life. Is that worth it?

Kids are very intent on feeling a high from alcohol, drugs, or other substances. Their high lasts a couple of hours maybe. While they are drunk or high, they do not realize that they could be taking years off their lives just for feeling good for this short period of time.

I don't think alcohol is bad or that it should be made illegal. When responsible people drink responsibly, it is rather safe. Drinking responsibly can even account for a good time. Raising the legal drinking age might be a better alternative.

Alcohol is a major downfall of youth. They misuse and abuse it. Eight young people die each day in alcohol related crashes. Alcohol is a factor in 40% of all academic problems and is the cause of 28% of college students dropping out. Alcohol is a factor in nearly 40% of violent crimes. I know alcohol and binge drinking is not worth it, but after reading these facts it seems as though alcohol ruins peoples lives 50% of the time or more when it is abused. Don’t abuse it.

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Kelli Moore

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There once was a young girl named Darla. She was smart, talented, and very beautiful. To Darla the words family and alcoholism often ran in the same sentence. Through her eyes… Alcoholism is a disease, not a joke. Everyday started off the same for Darla. She woke up on her own and got herself and her sister ready for school. She did the cooking, cleaning, and even had to help raise her sister. For most, being young is easy. To Darla, it was a struggle and she was all alone.

Her mom was always drinking and she even drank when she was pregnant with Darla’s sister, Julie. Her sister also grew up with alcoholic parents, and was not as strong as Darla. Julie was pregnant at the age of 12 and was heading down her parents path. Christmas time, Birthdays, Weddings, and even Funerals were all the same. Any excuse to drink and her family would. No family gathering was ever happy. No family gathering was ever normal.

When Darla took the SAT’s in school she was too embarrassed to be picked up by her dad because he was too drunk to drive. But that was better than them forgetting about her, like they often did. This was frequent for Darla, she felt as if her dad was permanently drunk. Darla never had friends spend the night and never had boyfriends over to pick her up. Then she met Ken and he quickly became all she had. The first time Ken came to Darla’s house her father answered the door with spaghetti on his head. Her mom and dad had been cooking in the kitchen and as always, they were drunk.

One day, Darla’s dad pushed her mom and she fell and broke her arm. That was the day Darla knew she would never have a sip of alcohol as long as she lived. Darla decided that the decades of alcoholism in her family would end there. But the battle for her was not over. Soon after that, Darla’s mom died after a long fight with alcoholism at only 45 years old.

Darla then lost her big sister, and father. She loved her family and was heart broken when they were gone. Her father was successful, her mom seemed happy, and from the outside they appeared normal. But what couldn’t be seen was that they were sick with a disease that had far reaching consequences. It was hard for Darla. She felt as if alcoholism had stolen from her... It had taken her family and her happiness to.

Thirty years later Darla is still smart, just as talented, and even more beautiful. She has a loving happy family and she is thankful for what God has given her. I would know… because she is my mom. I know that her parents alcoholism took a lot out of my mom at that time and hurt her so much but it made her who she is today…The perfect mom.

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