Tuesday, August 5, 2008

More ranting

I do more than rant, honestly.
To give a bit of history, I'm an EMT-I practicing as an EMT, and have a day job working on data entry on trauma patients.
I have a BS in Community Health (READ: Prevention)
I have seen what happens when teenagers and others drink to excess (and more than I care to)
I was never a party animal in high school or college. I had other things to do. Like getting hurt.
Someone I know admitted to me today that she not only allowed, but purchased alcohol for her underage daughter and her daughters boyfriend, who were staying in one place.
Her philosophy "She's going to do it anyway. Why not let her do it? At least she's not driving." This is not the first time I have heard this philosophy, and it bothers me.
How about teaching your child some responsibility? That you don't need to have alcohol to have fun? That alcohol solves no problems, and usually ends up causing more in the end? Is a gateway drug, and can introduce a young malleable mind to start trying other things that may be less than legal?

How long is it before she decides, while at a party, wants to go for some munchies with a bunch of her friends and ends up wrapping her car around a phone pole and kills someone, or herself? People who drink and drive and kill/hurt people usually don't intend to do it (well, maybe some), and it's billed as an accident.

Why are we allowing our society to let this philosophy run rampant?
Why do we sit and wring our hands and say "How did this happen?" when someone dies from drinking and driving, or binge drinking, or stupid things that happen while drinking (falling off a deck and breaking a neck)?

Not that I'm in favor of prohibition, because then it just makes more money for certain groups.
I just wish people would be more responsible

1 comment:

jambalaya said...

Those are the parents who weep, wail, and wring their hands when something REALLY REALLY BAD happens to their kids! They also say, "Not MY baby!!!!!!!!!!"