IYD: For Teens - Alcohol is a Phony

For Teens

Alcohol is a Phony

After four years of high school and some college, I've seen many fall into the tempting trap of the forbidden drink: alcohol. I've seen how alcohol can alter one's physical state, mental state, emotional state, and lifestyle. And I've come to the conclusion that alcohol is a phony.

Throughout high school I saw friends drink to become somebody else - a more carefree, talkative, bolder, relaxed person than they were when they weren't intoxicated. Instead it only made them more careless, obnoxious, loud, insensitive, and easy. They thought they could have a better time and laugh more if they were drunk. But really we all laughed at them, not with them, as they stumbled about and could only keep one eye open. It's a myth that alcohol will make you into a "more fun" person or a more popular person. Notorious maybe.

The fun times that people think come with alcohol are bogus. Chances are you won't remember what happened the next day. Chances are you'll wake up covered in your own digestive lining, and chances are you will have done something that you will regret.

I've cleaned up friends' dinners many times after a night of shots. I've had a drunken friend hit my car not once, but twice. Two people in high school got plastered one night and ended up having sex at a party in front of everyone. They weren't even friends. My roommate at college had to be admitted to the hospital after a night of drinking. Within the first week of college, there were probably at least four to five visits by ambulances to my dorm alone to pick up sick freshmen binge drinkers.

After some of that, I have to wonder how much fun alcohol really is.

By Sarah Kinder, college student