Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Power of Our Choices

Admittedly this my first attempt at the blogosphere.  I decided to take this opportunity to wrote about a subject that is very important to me, and that making children, both young and adolescent, aware of the impact of the choices they make.  Our choices effect all those around us, from family to friends, to complete strangers.  When we make choices, we must do so with this in mind.  We cannot act under the notion that our decisions effect only ourselves.

Children, and adults as well, but I will be focusing on children throughout this blog, tend to act as if they are invincible, that nothing negative can happen to them.  I want to make the younger generation aware that a negative decision made today can impact themselves and others for years to come.  They are faced with so many choices each and everyday, from what to wear to school, to the pictures they post on Facebook, twitter, instagram etc, to choosing whether or not to drink alcohol or take part in using drugs.  Some of these choices are minimal, such as what to wear.  However, the pictures and content that they post on the internet are out there for the world to see, and I don't think that the younger generation can totally grasp the concept of the entire world, let alone the permanent digital imprint that their posts leave.  When it comes to drug and alcohol use, and the effect this use has on their ability to make good choices, I feel very strongly about informing them of the consequences of these choices.  There is so much at stake, from legal consequences if possessing illegal drugs, to the potential outcome of driving under the influence.  There are tickets, loss of license, and even worse, the risk of getting into an accident, and hurting or even killing someone.  We need to make it known to the younger generation that these consequences can and will happen to them if they do not make the right choices.

I will be sharing statistics on this blog regarding legal consequences, and the potential lifelong impact of legal action.  I share experiences of people that have experiences some or all of these consequences, and the effect on their lives.  I also welcome anyone to post their own personal experience(s) or that of someone close to them.   Statistics have an effect, but hearing actual experiences from actual people has the larges impact in my opinion.  With each post I make, I will focus on a different topic, or consequence of a negative choice, and I will also feed off of anyone who posts their own experience, and expand on what they may post.  I look forward to educating as many people as possible, and hope to utilize this blog as an effective tool to get my message out.