Another High School Party

It's another Friday night and yet you find yourself at another of the same old, class clown's house parties, when all of a sudden your best friend comes running over all excited with a seems to be a shot of vodka in her hands. "Come on Haley, everybody's doing it. Just a sip!" Stop right there! Wait a minute, am I hearing this right? Haley is 16 years old, she is at a party with all her fellow peers and she is offered some alcohol what does she do? A say no and continue sipping her coke in the corner or B say yes and go over and join the party. Tough choice. What would you do? I bet you're wondering what happens next. I would like to day she refused the drink but that is probably not true because, as many facts state, 80% of teenagers have tried alcohol by their senior year. Why, you ask? Well, let's look and see, shall we? Let's forget that alcohol can invade the liver cells and this can lead to diseases such as cirrhosis and cancer or that alcohol can overwork the heart and this can lead to high blood pressure. I really don't understand why alcohol is so bad. Can you? (Note the sarcasm in my voice.) What parents fail to understand when they are threating their children not to drink alcohol is that although society does not force us to drink alcohol, it does force us to fit in and a lot of the time, we, as teenagers, are put under pressure to either drink and fit in or to just be an outsider. That's not an excuse I know and we agree that alcohol is not only bad but dangerous, but until we change teenagers' views that alcohol is cool, we can not stop underage drinking! Now your at a high school party. You're nervous. The school jocks are there, so are the cheerleaders and not to forget the person you have loved since as long as you can remember. Your hands are sweaty, your gobsmacked, and you feel like the most boring person in the room. Take a few shots of vodka and suddenly you're funny, smart...Oh no, wait, that's not you. It's the drink in your hand. So, OK, you're drinking. You're popular now. What next? Do you think these people will be there tomorrow or what about if you have an accident tonight? Will they be at your bedside? Five dollars says they won't be. They probably won't even remember your name. Eight teenagers die a day due to alcohol related accidents. Young people who began drinking before they were 15 are four times as likely to develop alcohol dependency before they hit 21. Also girls, here is one to remember: 60% of woman in college diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease were drunk when infected. So before taking that drink this weekend, take a good look around at the facts and the life you had because there are hundreds of teens dead who thought, "Ah well. It's just one drink." Is it really worth sacrificing your life for that one night of extra fun? Tell you what, you decide.