[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
last year I went through a torture that
every high schooler must endure health
class
now I remember health class very well
and there’s one thing that struck me the
most about it it was our unit on
substance abuse
I remembered sitting there in the
teacher lecturing us about how drugs
affected you how you would go through a
draws or how your teeth would start
writing now but that is only part of the
story today
I’m going to tell you the other part of
this story the emotional ripples that
substance abuse causes think of
substance abuse as a rock being thrown
into a pond as it hits the water it
creates a ripple effect small waves that
get larger and larger as they move
further away from that the center this
story starts about four years ago where
my hypothetical pond was clear and there
was no ripples in it four years ago I
was a happy twelve-year-old living the
life I was immersed in many activities
especially in stem and performing arts I
had a mother and father both worked and
two sisters one older one younger I was
never really close of my extended family
but my immediate family we did
everything from going to Disney World to
doing chores together one Saturday
morning I will just like any other
Saturday but that day wasn’t just an
ordinary day my two younger cousins were
coming to visit now at the time this
struck me as strange because I’ve never
really seen them outside an occasional
family reunion or the short glimpses I
got when I went to my grandparents house
I mean I would have conversations with
them but my cousins even know my name my
mom said that they were saying for the
weekend and we were to make them feel at
home as she said this red flags popped
up in my head I had so many questions
like why now and what’s going
but I just kind of let it all go
that weekend turned into a week and that
week turned into a month and as I look
upon this time now this is when the
ripples were just beginning small
inconveniences and annoyances like when
I would go to pack my lunch in the
morning and I would reach my hand into
the chip bag and there are no more chips
as I reflect upon this now these were
just the small beans by this time I
could no longer suppress the questions I
had inside and not satisfied my parents
answers I started investigating skulking
around why they’re having private
conversations this was a point of my
adolescence were my entire perception of
the world changed forever I overheard my
parents talk about how my uncle had been
arrested and in my shelter brain I
thought my family is all above being
arrested that they were all moral people
but soon I would learn the hardest thing
I’ve learned in my life so far I learned
that my uncle was a drug addict a heroin
junkie I was so overwhelmed with this
juxtaposition between the world I
thought I knew and the sad reality of
what it truly was my mom started opening
up to me and my older sister telling us
the stories of what was truly going on
in our family I would hear stories of
how my cousin’s would go to sleep in a
bed bug infested house or would overhear
conversations they have of my mom were
there questioning her saying there’s not
supposed to be bugs in my hair
or when I would look at their arms and I
would see the cigarette burns on them
I was so angry inside I thought how
could anyone let this happen I felt like
I was being constantly knocked down with
every news story I heard not even a year
later about two weeks before Christmas I
walked to my mom and sister talking and
I could tell something was very wrong I
remember my mom calling me into my
sister’s room she looked at me and said
your uncle died last night
the truly cruel part of this was I’d
even feel sad I had become so numb to
the constant waves knocking me down that
I didn’t feel anything anymore
all I could think was this is all over
but sadly I was wrong after my uncle’s
death my family fell into Anarchy where
my life had been previously peaceful and
happy the new normal became constant
fights over visitation and custody of my
cousin’s an angry family members
breaking to my breaking into my house
there were school nights where I would
sit by my door with a baseball bat
brained I wouldn’t have to use it just
praying that this would all stop all I
had left was a mother who soon became
ill and had to leave her job a father
has to work nights just to keep us
afloat an older sister who went off to
college and dreads coming home because
of fights a younger sister whose world
was so scrambled does she shy everything
out threatening suicide two younger
cousins who were scared to go to bed at
night
me then fourteen-year-old who stayed
same by throwing himself into extra
cooker activities spending 14 hours a
day at school and I have to say if it
wasn’t for the overwhelming support I
cut from friends and teachers I would
not be standing here today
my story it’s nothing special if you
talk to thousands of other people who
have substance abuse and their families
you will hear the same story mine it’s
just one way events can unfold there are
people out there though more affected
than I ever was
who’ve experienced more devastation in
our lives and we can even fathom already
projections show that by the end of 2017
two thousand overdoses will occur in
southwestern Ohio that’s two thousand
deaths we live in a society where we’re
taught right from wrong not to do this
or that rarely do we ever stop and think
about what our actions can do to others
I propose a society where we have a
health class where we don’t just teach
our younger generations about how drugs
affect you but we teach them about the
adverse effects they have on everything
around them so what I want you to think
to yourself is where am I in this ripple
effect and next time before you make a
decision don’t just think about how your
decision affects yourself think about
how your actions affect others
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
last year I went through a torture that
every high schooler must endure health
class
now I remember health class very well
and there’s one thing that struck me the
most about it it was our unit on
substance abuse
I remembered sitting there in the
teacher lecturing us about how drugs
affected you how you would go through a
draws or how your teeth would start
writing now but that is only part of the
story today
I’m going to tell you the other part of
this story the emotional ripples that
substance abuse causes think of
substance abuse as a rock being thrown
into a pond as it hits the water it
creates a ripple effect small waves that
get larger and larger as they move
further away from that the center this
story starts about four years ago where
my hypothetical pond was clear and there
was no ripples in it four years ago I
was a happy twelve-year-old living the
life I was immersed in many activities
especially in stem and performing arts I
had a mother and father both worked and
two sisters one older one younger I was
never really close of my extended family
but my immediate family we did
everything from going to Disney World to
doing chores together one Saturday
morning I will just like any other
Saturday but that day wasn’t just an
ordinary day my two younger cousins were
coming to visit now at the time this
struck me as strange because I’ve never
really seen them outside an occasional
family reunion or the short glimpses I
got when I went to my grandparents house
I mean I would have conversations with
them but my cousins even know my name my
mom said that they were saying for the
weekend and we were to make them feel at
home as she said this red flags popped
up in my head I had so many questions
like why now and what’s going
but I just kind of let it all go
that weekend turned into a week and that
week turned into a month and as I look
upon this time now this is when the
ripples were just beginning small
inconveniences and annoyances like when
I would go to pack my lunch in the
morning and I would reach my hand into
the chip bag and there are no more chips
as I reflect upon this now these were
just the small beans by this time I
could no longer suppress the questions I
had inside and not satisfied my parents
answers I started investigating skulking
around why they’re having private
conversations this was a point of my
adolescence were my entire perception of
the world changed forever I overheard my
parents talk about how my uncle had been
arrested and in my shelter brain I
thought my family is all above being
arrested that they were all moral people
but soon I would learn the hardest thing
I’ve learned in my life so far I learned
that my uncle was a drug addict a heroin
junkie I was so overwhelmed with this
juxtaposition between the world I
thought I knew and the sad reality of
what it truly was my mom started opening
up to me and my older sister telling us
the stories of what was truly going on
in our family I would hear stories of
how my cousin’s would go to sleep in a
bed bug infested house or would overhear
conversations they have of my mom were
there questioning her saying there’s not
supposed to be bugs in my hair
or when I would look at their arms and I
would see the cigarette burns on them
I was so angry inside I thought how
could anyone let this happen I felt like
I was being constantly knocked down with
every news story I heard not even a year
later about two weeks before Christmas I
walked to my mom and sister talking and
I could tell something was very wrong I
remember my mom calling me into my
sister’s room she looked at me and said
your uncle died last night
the truly cruel part of this was I’d
even feel sad I had become so numb to
the constant waves knocking me down that
I didn’t feel anything anymore
all I could think was this is all over
but sadly I was wrong after my uncle’s
death my family fell into Anarchy where
my life had been previously peaceful and
happy the new normal became constant
fights over visitation and custody of my
cousin’s an angry family members
breaking to my breaking into my house
there were school nights where I would
sit by my door with a baseball bat
brained I wouldn’t have to use it just
praying that this would all stop all I
had left was a mother who soon became
ill and had to leave her job a father
has to work nights just to keep us
afloat an older sister who went off to
college and dreads coming home because
of fights a younger sister whose world
was so scrambled does she shy everything
out threatening suicide two younger
cousins who were scared to go to bed at
night
me then fourteen-year-old who stayed
same by throwing himself into extra
cooker activities spending 14 hours a
day at school and I have to say if it
wasn’t for the overwhelming support I
cut from friends and teachers I would
not be standing here today
my story it’s nothing special if you
talk to thousands of other people who
have substance abuse and their families
you will hear the same story mine it’s
just one way events can unfold there are
people out there though more affected
than I ever was
who’ve experienced more devastation in
our lives and we can even fathom already
projections show that by the end of 2017
two thousand overdoses will occur in
southwestern Ohio that’s two thousand
deaths we live in a society where we’re
taught right from wrong not to do this
or that rarely do we ever stop and think
about what our actions can do to others
I propose a society where we have a
health class where we don’t just teach
our younger generations about how drugs
affect you but we teach them about the
adverse effects they have on everything
around them so what I want you to think
to yourself is where am I in this ripple
effect and next time before you make a
decision don’t just think about how your
decision affects yourself think about
how your actions affect others
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
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