When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I took a substance abuse class. At that age, I did not comprehend 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 individuals all over the world. I also learned quite a bit about alcohol treatment and the diverse alcohol rehab programs that are typically available to people who engage in hazardous drinking.
Some of the dangerous outcomes correlated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class definitely terrified me. The ruined lives and many serious issues experienced by most alcoholics 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 devastation that alcohol dependent people almost always go through.
Let this sink in for a moment. What fifteen-year-old teenager 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 ingesting alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What young person wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related problems before he or she becomes an adult?
What teenager wants to go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause serious issues in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after an individual has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would a teenager want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that revolves around abusive drinking?
These issues were so meaningful that I talked about some of them in class throughout the school year. What was completely inconceivable to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the harmful consequences of excessive drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be bothered with the facts and how these outcomes can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to appreciate something that my grandfather used to tell me all through my younger years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
