Substance Free Event
From AODWiki
I have attended a substance free event, and I found out that I do not need alcohol or narcotics to have fun. Regardless of the fact that I was 18 at the time of the trip, I learned to have fun in an uplifting environment. The high school I attended offers a trip to Mexico every spring for all the students to attend and build houses for poverty-stricken areas just across the border, which I felt sounded like a boring idea until I got there. I thought that it would be boring because there are no showers, and you have to work all day in the hot sun hammering and nailing. I did not realize the significance of a house to a homeless family in Mexico. We arrived on scene to find a slab of concrete about 20� by 20�, and I realized, �We�re going to build them a shack?� Yet, as I looked around the slab of concrete, I realized the area around it was made up of homes that I would not label homes. These were places where the best wall of the house is a wooden garage door. Some walls were patched with blankets that do not keep out wind or rain. This house we were about to build was a dream house that was the best house for miles in this village located in the hills. The labor was intense at times, but our house-building group of about 15 people all worked hard together hammering and nailing while we sweated away. By the end of the week our house was built, and when the family we built the house for showed up, they started crying. As I watched the Dad, it was the first time I have ever seen a grown man cry where tears are pouring out of his eyes. As I realized that I was apart of making this reality for him, I felt so happy that I totally forgot about the parties I was missing out on, and my friends at home who were probably drunk because it was spring break. This was an unsurpassed level of happiness that I felt, that I had never felt during catching a touchdown in football, or laughing with my friends while I was intoxicated. I started to think how I do not need alcohol or narcotics to have fun and I could do something for some one else at the same time. Now that I am a freshman in college, at times I seem to have forgotten that memory of how proud I was of myself for doing something for some one else. Writing this essay has made me think of moments when I have enjoyed life the most, and my fondest memories of life have all been sober moments. As I look back on my 19 years of life, I now regret many of the moments that I was intoxicated with friends and realize that there is longer lasting happiness than getting a buzz from drinking. Events like building houses in Mexico are uplifting events where you do not regret anything or have a hangover in the morning. There were no negative repercussions and I am happy to have gone.
Information on the trip I went on can be found here: http://www.tka.org/studentactivities/servicemexico.html.
