<p>NJres-
Thank you for taking the risk and bringing this back to our attention. The student’s father is very brave to be willing to share his story, in the hopes that others may learn from his son’s alcoholism.</p>
<p>Here in the South, a Ft. Benning soldier who’d just returned from Iraq and was about to get married was out with friends in Savannah for “a night of drinking”. Unfortunately he had a bit too much to drink, opened the wrong door in a hotel hallway, believing it to be the stairwell, and was chopped up by air conditioner blades. Not a pleasant way to die. Here’s the story: <a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12494679/[/url]”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12494679/</a></p>
<p>note in the article:
"Police had not determined how Hornbeck got into the hotel maintenance area or what he was doing there. He was not a guest at the hotel. Blood toxicology tests were also being performed. Hornbecks father had previously said he suspects his son was intoxicated.</p>
<p>I think maybe hed in fact had too much to drink, Kirk Hornbeck said. He mightve thought he was going out the right door to the outside and got turned around inside the building and ended up in the wrong spot.</p>
<p>I repeat what I said above. There is a HUGE difference between responsible and irresponsible drinking. I hope the students and adults reading this will think twice when they drink. I know I do.</p>
<p>We had this sad article in our paper today about unresolved issues concerning a death (18 months ago) at St. Lawrence University, which was evidently the third alcohol-related death in the last two years in this region of four colleges.</p>
<p>We have friends, parents of a high school senior, who are lenient about drinking. They say that if they’re strict, their kid will “go wild” when he gets to college. I recall the father saying, “I’m letting out the line very slowly all through high school, so when he leaves for college he won’t notice a thing.” </p>
<p>These arguments have some validity, and when I’ve heard them in group settings I never know how to respond. A small, inner part of me says, “Yes, but . . .” yet I never say anything.</p>
<p>The issue as it is now becoming apparent, is that this boy is drinking heavily and regularly. The odds perhaps don’t favor this; most kids who are treated with lenience probably develop their own brakes on drinking and other things in due time. But here it is . . . and I wonder how a parent can be lenient about drinking and at the same time recognize and intervene when the drinking turns from fun to something serious.</p>
<p>I really applaud this father in a time of unfathomable grief to bring up his son’s use of alchohol as a problem so that others may learn from it. He didn’t have to bring his alcoholism to such public light but he did and it is pretty terrific given the circumstances. Such a tragic story. Accidents happen but mix in heavy drinking and the risks increase greatly.</p>
<p>My parents are lenient about drinking now in college and were in high school. My mother was very open all throughout HS. She taught me the dangers of what can happen when influenced by alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. What’s the result? I drink, but never drive. I never randomly hook up with anyone, no matter how intoxicated I am. I’ve never been injured or injured another. You can drink, even heavily, at a party and not have problems. I’m not an alcoholic, but I’ve gotten drunk the Friday/Saturday/Sunday weekend hat trick before. So what? A few tragedies seem to color everyone’s perception (and that’s what the media wants.)</p>
<p>I’ve never been injured or injured another. You can drink, even heavily, at a party and not have problems. I’m not an alcoholic, but I’ve gotten drunk the Friday/Saturday/Sunday weekend hat trick before. So what? A few tragedies seem to color everyone’s perception (and that’s what the media wants.)</p>
<p>Umm. Neverborn, perhaps you should read the whole thread and read Lucifer’s posts. He was quite articulate, too. No one is calling you an alcoholic!
Most parents have all been to college and many of us have also gotten wasted in college on various things. We are not hysterics who fall for media hype. Parents are simply quite concerned when most accidental deaths are both freshman year and alcohol related. Re not ever injuring anyone–you have been lucky so far. I hope you are always lucky, and I am glad I never hurt anyone while out socializing with a high person or high myself. But it is not because I wasn’t at risk. I was a risk!
In my town a perfectly wonderful young college student recently accidently ran over another intoxicated college freshman. He was too drunk to know he had run over a human being (felt a bump though) because he was cutting through some dark grassy shortcut area rather than taking a driveway out of a parking lot. No one found the other student in time to save his life. He was apparantly “resting” on the lawn or too drunk to stand up. Alcohol and accidents are legitimate things to discuss on a college forum. Two families are devastated and criminal proceedings are underway.</p>
<p>I happen to be one of those parents who believe minors should not drink alcohol simply because it is illegal, regardless of how fun it is to drink or how responsible they might be when the choose to drink. Ditto for illegal drugs. I mention this because my opinion sometimes gets as much disagreement as the posts made by students who favor drinking so I guess I know how they feel.</p>
<p>Having said that, I believe the statistics and resources posted by Mini and other commenters that drinking is not more widespread than it used to be but those who drink are more likely to be binge drinkers. I think one of the reasons for this is the availability of credit. In my college days, I frequently ran out of money around the 25th of each month. I ended up eating boxes of macaroni and cheese and whatever I could scrounge in my refrigerator. Money for alcohol was basically nonexistent then and during the rest of the month. Today’s kids have credit cards and don’t feel the pinch in the same way we did, so dinner and drinks at restaurants and the ability to purchase alcohol is more common today.</p>