When I was a sophomore in high school, I enrolled into a drug abuse class. At that time period, I did not grasp the fact that alcohol abuse in reality was a sub category of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for people all over the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol rehabilitation and the various alcohol rehab centers that are usually available to people who engage in hazardous drinking.
Some of the dangerous effects associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class undeniably terrified me. The ruined lives and countless serious issues experienced by most alcohol addicted individuals made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. In a word, I did not want to face the wreckage and ruination that alcohol addicted people almost always encounter.
Let this sink in for a moment. What fifteen-year-old person wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What teenager wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that consuming alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teen wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related difficulties before he or she becomes twenty-one?
What young person wants to go through alcohol withdrawals when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause difficulties in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after a person has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would a young person want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that revolves around abusive drinking?
These issues were so significant that I discussed some of them in class during the school year. What was downright unbelievable to me was the number of students who openly didn’t care about the dangerous outcomes of excessive drinking that I discussed. It was almost as if they couldn’t care less about reality and how these effects can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to figure out something that my grandfather used to articulate throughout my adolesence: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.
