You Are An Individual. You Are Not Your Father or Your Uncles.

Posted by Tony Bylsma on July 19, 2010 under Drug Abuse Prevention Education | 4 Comments to Read

A kid asked me in school today if he was going to become addicted to alcohol. I was a bit shaken by this question. I was in a very affluent area of South Pasadena and saw unusually few signs of drug abuse in the class. (Unusually few for a California public high school, anyway.)

I asked if he thought he was going have a drinking problem & he said yes, his father and uncles are heavy drinkers and his grandfather died of alcoholism.

I told him, “You are an individual. You are not your father or your uncles, just as you are not your grandfather. Some similarities exist in your genetic make-up, that is for sure. But according to recent findings, those similarities are not capable of directing your behavior to such an extent that you must follow in your father’s footstep and become a problem drinker.”

He was listening now.

I said, “Much more conclusive evidence has been found to show that environmental factors are more likely to lead a person to display certain habits and behaviors. So growing up around drinkers will increase the likelihood of drinking in young people.

“But the most important factor of all, and the one that will always be the true determining factor, is the individual’s power of choice. That will always win, if you choose to exercise it. Your future habits, drinking or not, abusing drugs or not, will always be up to you. That cannot be taken away from you.

“And if you give that up, whether to some beer commercial of drug dealer, OR, to some silly theory that says you must become addicted, you’ve given up what makes you an individual. From that point on out, who knows? Whatever factors come your way will determine how you live or die.

Don’t give up your individuality to some false theory. Be yourself and live your own life, not your father’s or whatever.

Tony Bylsma
DetoxRehab.org