{"id":150,"date":"2016-09-29T11:09:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T11:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www2.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=150"},"modified":"2016-09-29T11:09:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T11:09:00","slug":"day-3-sobriety-awareness-a-students-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2016\/09\/29\/day-3-sobriety-awareness-a-students-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 3: Sobriety Awareness – a student’s perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Health Organization defines sobriety as \u201ca continued abstinence from alcohol and psychoactive drug use.\u201d\u00a0 Lebanon Valley College has designated October 3-6 as Sobriety Awareness Week.\u00a0 Various events are planned to promote discussions on sobriety.\u00a0 Click HERE<\/a> for those events.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Fry\u2019s FYE class is studying addiction.\u00a0 Students were asked to write a story about something or someone who helped shaped one\u2019s attitudes toward alcohol or drugs.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

La Vie is posting the stories of six students, who all agreed to the publication of their submission.\u00a0 These writings are unedited.\u00a0 They appear as how they were submitted for the class assignment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Day 3<\/em>:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0My attitude was shaped by my family<\/b><\/p>\n

By: an anonymous student<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My attitude towards drugs and alcohol were shaped because of my family members. When I was little, my mom and dad always told me to never do drugs or drink. \u00a0I thought that meant that the people who consumed them were considered bad too. \u00a0I was afraid that my grandma, Uncle Mark and Mark, Jr. were bad people because they drank and did drugs. \u00a0My grandma has been addicted to pain medicine ever since she broke her neck. \u00a0She has fragile bones, and they would always break. \u00a0It all started when she went to see Dr. XXX. \u00a0She prescribed pain medication to her and still to this day she cannot live without them. \u00a0I grew up going to my grandma’s house on a regular basis \u00a0As I got older, the visits were reduced until I could not go over anymore. \u00a0Grandpa would tell me that “mother had a bad night.” \u00a0At first I thought she had a cold and was not feeling well. \u00a0When I was in middle school, I learned that grandma was not sick with a cold, she was high, and my mom did not want me to see her like that. \u00a0I lost count on how many times she overdosed.<\/p>\n

After the first couple times, it got so bad that whenever someone told me that she overdosed, I was not that worried about her anymore. \u00a0I know it’s horrible to think like that, but I do. \u00a0It does not even surprise me anymore. \u00a0My family tried sending her to rehab. \u00a0They flew my grandparents out to Betty Ford Rehab Facility in California. \u00a0Grandma only lasted a week there. \u00a0She forced my grandpa to sign her because she hated it. \u00a0I believe if she stayed there longer she would have gotten better. \u00a0Her sobriety lasted a couple of days before she landed back in the hospital. \u00a0The hospital visits increased, and the PA Department of Aging got in touch with my mom to find out what was happening. \u00a0She had to beg them not to investigate and that she would handle it. \u00a0Mom told grandma and grandpa that they are under the radar of the Department of Aging. \u00a0They still do not see the seriousness of the situation. \u00a0Grandpa changed his number multiple times because people would try to sell him drugs. \u00a0I think he did that just so my mom would get off his back. \u00a0Somehow he still manages to find a way to keep giving grandma pills. \u00a0Whenever I hear this, I just want to scream on the top of my lungs! \u00a0I want to be furious at them and make it known how much they disappointed me but I cannot. \u00a0Each time I get close to speaking my mind, flashbacks of us having sleepovers and finding the hidden treasure around their house comes flooding back.<\/p>\n

Drugs did not only ruin their lives, but they also ruined the lives of those who are close to them. \u00a0On many occasions, they had to cancel vacations because of the day that they were supposed to leave, “mother had a bad night.” \u00a0We were supposed to go on the Disney Cruise together. \u00a0On the day we leave, they call saying they cannot make it. \u00a0I knew how much grandpa was looking forward to this trip. \u00a0How could grandma do this to him? \u00a0How could he let this happen? \u00a0These are reoccurring questions that float around my brain that are left unanswered. \u00a0They always complain about how they are poor. \u00a0That is because they spend their money on buying pills. \u00a0If they would just stop, they would have a lot more money saved up. \u00a0What makes me angry is that they want my sisters and me to visit more. \u00a0Every time I go over, grandma is totally out of it. \u00a0When she is sober, she says that she is in so much pain. \u00a0The pain is from her body withdrawing from the drugs. \u00a0I refuse to spend my time over there when she cannot form a sentence. \u00a0Then grandpa would make up some excuse for her. \u00a0What makes me angry is that he tries to cover it all up. \u00a0Like he honestly thinks that I do know what is going on. \u00a0It just frustrates me because if he stops giving her the pills, then she would be sober more often. \u00a0Grandmas does not drive, and she would not know where to get the pills from.<\/p>\n

Seeing my grandparent struggle with drug addiction makes me want to stray away from them. \u00a0My parents do not drink and do not do drugs. \u00a0My older sister does, but that is when she is out with her friends. \u00a0XX does not get drunk; she drinks responsibly. \u00a0My parents’ beliefs and values got pushed onto me. \u00a0I have no desire to drink or use drugs. \u00a0XXX helped me realize that just because someone drinks or does drugs does not make them a horrible person. \u00a0I have friends that struggle with addiction, and they are some of the nicest people you could ever meet. \u00a0I just do not agree with their choices. \u00a0I do not want to become like my grandparents. \u00a0I want to be able to lie my life to the fullest. \u00a0When I’m in my 80s, I want to play with my grandchildren. \u00a0I do not want to be cooped up in my bedroom because I’m too high to function. \u00a0It’s because of my family that I do not want to drink or do drugs. \u00a0I have seen and experienced what it so like to try to help an addict that does not want the help. \u00a0I’m too afraid of losing control of my body. \u00a0I have no idea of what I would be capable of.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World Health Organization defines sobriety as \u201ca continued abstinence from alcohol and psychoactive drug use.\u201d\u00a0 Lebanon Valley College has designated October 3-6 as Sobriety Awareness Week.\u00a0 Various events are planned to promote discussions on […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}