I Believe

When I was younger my father told me a story about when he was a teenager. He forewarned

me that it was going to be about a mistake that he had made and he wanted me to learn from it.

When he was 18 he was arrested for drunk driving. I knew when he told his story that he wanted

me to learn to stay away from alcohol.

I can't say that I have followed what he wanted. I made the mistake myself and

learned from it on my own. A few years ago a friend and I decided to drink a little. I made a

mistake of drinking as well as making a mistake while I was under the influence of alcohol.

Since that night I haven't come near alcohol. I may not have made the mistake of getting

arrested but I made the mistakes of giving into peer pressure and letting myself and my father

down.

Since the time of my mistake I've used my personal life experience to try and keep other

teenagers and pre-teens from making the same mistakes I have. I joined our school's Student's

Improving School Atmosphere (SISA) program so that I can help promote my belief. Our

program tries its best to help reduce the amount of drinking and drugs done in our school and

community. I think that if the older teenagers quit doing then so would our younger teens. In

my experience people smoke and drink because they think everyone is doing it and that it's

cool.