The Bottom of the Bottle
When I was a senior in high school I opted to take all the advanced courses I could. One of these included Honors English. We were asked to write an article that would be published in our local paper. I just came across this article again today and thought I would put it here. It definitely was not popular among my classmates and parts of it were required (length, statistics, quotes, etc.).
The Bottom of the Bottle
"Don't wait up for me, Mom. I'm just going out with the guys"
"I'm not too drunk, Dad. I've just had a couple."
Phrases like these should strike fear into the hearts of most parents. As parents, they have a responsibility to prevent their children from endangering themselves and others. While teenagers think their lives are their own and should be of no concern to parents, this way of thinking is unrealistic. When teenagers decide to pour alcohol down their throats, they are being irresponsible and dangerous.
Numerous surveys have stated that in the small community of Oakes, alcohol is the drug of choice. The legality of this drug has made it easy to obtain and as a result, its use is increasingly more common among the youth. Drinking has evolved to the point that it has become a common part of being a teenager. Society no longer condemns the town drunk but rather accepts drinking as experiemental behavior. The problem is that many are not just experimenting; it has evolved into a way of life. There is a fine line between you controlling the alcohol and the alcohol controlling you. Unfortunately, alcohol impairs a person's judgement to a point where they do not know when they have crossed that line.
I will be attending college next fall, as well as many of my classmates, and I am fully aware of the behavior associated with typical college life: no parents, no rules, no curfews, the perfect party scene, and for many, little time spent actually studying. We have all heard of the "freshmen 15", those pounds put on because of the change in lifestyle, and to some, it seems like a big deal. Most assuredly, those few extra pounds will be the least of their worries if alochol becomes their way of life.
Alcohol causes many problems in the home, it is not just a concern when it comes to the road. According to the Director of Development for Northwest College of the Bible, Charles Dailey, one teenager in five is said to be a drinker and of those, ten percent are future alcoholics. Dailey also says that one in four families is affected by alcohol in some way. The emotional impact of living with a person who drinks is much like living with a time bomb. It is almost impossible to tell what will happen or when. We are fooling ourselves if we think the only people we hurt when we drink are ourselves. Many people get hurt, especially family members.
I'm not saying that everyone who has a beer on Friday night becomes a problem drinker, but a great number of people cannot control the progression of a tolerance to the liquid. I believe the problem of alchol exists within our community and every other community in this nation, and most likely throughout the world. It is a sad fact that Americans consume 4 3/4 billion gallons of beer annually, and still only ranks 20th in alcohol consumption. It seems we are doing very little to nothing to confront this problem, though. We throw the drunk drivers and abusers in jail for a night, and put them back into society with little help, until something horrible happens.
Violence, drugs, sexually transmitted diseases, jail, and death all accompany the temporary buzzed feeling. I strongly urge parents to take the initiaitive to find out exactly what their children are doing when they go out for a night on the town. Lives are literally atstake; it may be your child or some innocent person getting hit by an intoxicated driver. I would hope that the next time you decide to go drinking, that you carefully consider the possible consequences, and remember, the answers to life aren't going to be found at the bottom of the bottle.
The Bottom of the Bottle
"Don't wait up for me, Mom. I'm just going out with the guys"
"I'm not too drunk, Dad. I've just had a couple."
Phrases like these should strike fear into the hearts of most parents. As parents, they have a responsibility to prevent their children from endangering themselves and others. While teenagers think their lives are their own and should be of no concern to parents, this way of thinking is unrealistic. When teenagers decide to pour alcohol down their throats, they are being irresponsible and dangerous.
Numerous surveys have stated that in the small community of Oakes, alcohol is the drug of choice. The legality of this drug has made it easy to obtain and as a result, its use is increasingly more common among the youth. Drinking has evolved to the point that it has become a common part of being a teenager. Society no longer condemns the town drunk but rather accepts drinking as experiemental behavior. The problem is that many are not just experimenting; it has evolved into a way of life. There is a fine line between you controlling the alcohol and the alcohol controlling you. Unfortunately, alcohol impairs a person's judgement to a point where they do not know when they have crossed that line.
I will be attending college next fall, as well as many of my classmates, and I am fully aware of the behavior associated with typical college life: no parents, no rules, no curfews, the perfect party scene, and for many, little time spent actually studying. We have all heard of the "freshmen 15", those pounds put on because of the change in lifestyle, and to some, it seems like a big deal. Most assuredly, those few extra pounds will be the least of their worries if alochol becomes their way of life.
Alcohol causes many problems in the home, it is not just a concern when it comes to the road. According to the Director of Development for Northwest College of the Bible, Charles Dailey, one teenager in five is said to be a drinker and of those, ten percent are future alcoholics. Dailey also says that one in four families is affected by alcohol in some way. The emotional impact of living with a person who drinks is much like living with a time bomb. It is almost impossible to tell what will happen or when. We are fooling ourselves if we think the only people we hurt when we drink are ourselves. Many people get hurt, especially family members.
I'm not saying that everyone who has a beer on Friday night becomes a problem drinker, but a great number of people cannot control the progression of a tolerance to the liquid. I believe the problem of alchol exists within our community and every other community in this nation, and most likely throughout the world. It is a sad fact that Americans consume 4 3/4 billion gallons of beer annually, and still only ranks 20th in alcohol consumption. It seems we are doing very little to nothing to confront this problem, though. We throw the drunk drivers and abusers in jail for a night, and put them back into society with little help, until something horrible happens.
Violence, drugs, sexually transmitted diseases, jail, and death all accompany the temporary buzzed feeling. I strongly urge parents to take the initiaitive to find out exactly what their children are doing when they go out for a night on the town. Lives are literally atstake; it may be your child or some innocent person getting hit by an intoxicated driver. I would hope that the next time you decide to go drinking, that you carefully consider the possible consequences, and remember, the answers to life aren't going to be found at the bottom of the bottle.
posted by Monica at 7:57 PM
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