Dear Another Bad Crash

First, I want to say I’m glad your friend is ok, and thank you for sharing your thoughts on the dangers of drinking and driving. It’s important to get the message into everyone’s hands that drinking and driving is very dangerous and can kill. You may only see the ad messages directed to you, but the key message is regardless of your age, don’t drink and drive. I am proud of you for seeing there is still a need to get the word out and maybe by sharing this message with your family, friends and classmates, you can start a movement I like to call “Think Before You Drink.”

Editor’s note: Take a moment to read this powerful piece written by another TNT youth, Shannon Murphy.

“ALCOHOL IS REPLACING GRADUATIONS WITH FUNERALS”

By Shannon Murphy

From eggnog at Christmas to a toast at weddings, alcohol has wiggled its way into our culture more and more over the years. Ethanol, also known as alcohol, has gone from a glass of red wine at dinner for mature adults to a dangerous growing habit for teens when they want something to do. Alcohol is not a poison that kills when swallowed, however, it can be very dangerous when it falls into the hands of naïve and reckless teens who just want to have a good time. Instead of going to see the latest horror movie, teens are getting wasted to have fun, feel more comfortable or relieve stress.

Whatever the reason, it doesn’t make it right or any less dangerous. The number of teens that have drunk alcohol when they are seniors in high school is jaw dropping. I believe that things like harsher punishment, better alcohol education and more responsible parenting will make these numbers go down. But this can’t happen until people realize the severity of the problem.

Most parents tell their kids that drinking is never a good idea, yet many teens pick up the bottle anyway. Teens drink for lots of reasons, but the main ones include: having fun, feeling more relaxed around people and to escape from problems. Alcohol acts as a “social lubricant” at parties, claims 18-year-old Ben. “Many teens feel more relaxed when they have had something to drink,” he says. “This makes them feel like they’re having a good time.”

Alcohol is often perceived as a stimulant, when it is in fact a depressant. It slows everything from a person’s motor skills to their perception. “My friends suck when they’re sober,” says 17-year-old Samantha. This girl is saying that she only enjoys being around her friends when they have had something to drink. To me, that’s a shame. If your friends aren’t your friends when they are sober, then they weren’t your friends to begin with. I don’t consider spending an entire night with someone who can’t stand up or doesn’t have any idea about what they are saying to be fun.

Being a teenager is never easy. There are just so many stresses for a teenager and sometimes talking to a good friend is not enough. So they decide to go to a party and get totally smashed. A lot of teens look forward to Friday and Saturday nights so they don’t have to think about university admissions, their marks or why they just don’t quite fit in. Sometimes it’s human nature to run from things that seem too big to handle or look for a way to have a good time, but alcohol isn’t the answer and there are teens that don’t realize this. Running away from a fight with a boyfriend into the comforts of a bottle will only make them that much worse when you finally get your head out of the toilet. Teens hear that drinking can cause accidents and mistakes, but everyone thinks it will never happen to them.

Car accidents, homicides and suicides are three leading causes of death for teens ages 15 to 21. In some cases, alcohol is involved. In this country, people can get their license as young as 15. At this age, teens are still learning the rules of the road and how to handle their car. When you throw in weekend parties, you have a deadly combination.

Most teens say that they have only been to a couple of parties that did not have alcohol present. Imagine how many of those teens are drinking and now imagine that half of the teens drinking need to get home on time for curfew. So now there is an inexperienced teen drunk driver on the road.

The consumption of alcohol heightens your emotions immensely, so if someone is upset about something and has alcohol in their system, then it can often become 10 times worse. A verbal argument can turn to a black eye and bloody nose in a moment. Worst-case scenario, it could turn uncontrollably violent which may lead to a knife or gun being pulled. Drinking also impairs your judgment, which can cause you to make poor decisions.

Girls are more likely to be raped, become pregnant or get an STD when they are drunk because they are so vulnerable. In high school, everyone is fighting to fit in and get noticed. At a party, a senior jock might come up to a sophomore girl and start flirting with her. After having a couple shots, she might think that he likes her, when in reality he just wants to get some action. An hour later, the girl is on the verge of passing out and the next thing she knows, she is pregnant and doesn’t know how she got that way, let alone who the father is. Unsettling stories like this are happening every day. Teens need to wake up and learn that, yes, it can happen to them.

Walking into a liquor store and buying a bottle of alcohol has become harder for underage teens, yet in my opinion, underage drinking is getting worse and worse. There is only so much liquor store clerks can do about this problem. If parents took more initiative towards finding out what was going on in their kids’ lives, then they’d learn of their drinking habits. Then they can come up with such a severe punishment that they can scare their kids from ever drinking again.

I feel like a lot of parents don’t try to find out what’s going on in their kids’ lives and that is the root of the problem. A parent’s job is to take care of their kids, even if that may mean sticking their noses where it doesn’t belong. Then again, this might not be so easy for the parents that are alcoholics themselves.

Most kids know that drinking is bad for them, but they don’t necessarily know the specifics. I bet that most kids have never seen an alcoholic’s liver or a real-life drunk driving accident. Maybe if kids did see what could happen, then they’d think twice about drinking. These things seem drastic, but a drastic situation needs drastic actions. It is taking the lives of innocent teens and it has to be stopped no matter what the cost.

It is very unsettling that, globally, teenagers are becoming alcoholics. It doesn’t make sense that teens think alcohol is an escape or a way to have fun when there are so many productive things they could do instead.

It bothers me that teens ignore all the caution signs about drinking. The more effort, time and money put into this seemingly unnoticed problem, the more lives will be saved.

Parents are not supposed to bury their kids, but unless something is done about this, there will be more and more funerals replacing graduations.

~ Diva