The woman who came also brought her husband for support and, before the talk even began, I found out why. My class already knew that their daughter died from alcohol poisoning last December, so this was a very fresh topic. What we didn't know was how completely amazingly eye-opening the talk would be.
After a short slideshow of her daughter and her daughter's favorite songs (which definitely got me teary-eyed), the woman came back in and began to tell us about her daughter. She told us how her daughter was full of life, good at everything, and popular with everyone, but down to earth. She told us that, 5 days before Christmas, on the first day of spring break, her daughter had gone to a friend's house. They drank a lot and they drank it quick. After a short while, her daughter got sick and her friends left her next to the toilet in the bathroom, thinking that she would be fine. They found her at 9am the next morning, unconcious, and we unable to revive her. She died not long after.
The woman told my class that she had learned out of the whole ordeal that alcohol poisoning is something that most are not well informed of. Drinking and driving? Sure. Blackouts? Of course. But alcohol poisoning is just not as commonly talked about. She knows this because her daughter died of about 8 shots of 80 proof vodka.
She put it into perspective for us this way: "This is a drink," she said. "One class of beer is about 8 ounces."
"This is a wine glass," she said next. "A typical glass of wine is about 4-5 ounces."
Then she picked up the shot glass and stared at it. "This is also one drink," she told us. "One shot of hard liquor is about an ounce."
"The problem is getting people to understand that the one shot of liquor is exactly like the glass of beer. Each is one drink. However, it is much easier to do 8 shots of vodka than it is to drink 8 glasses of beer."
This really hit me hard. About two months ago, Jo and I were bored one night and decided to play a little drinking game while watching one of the Star Wars movies. The deal was that every time Anakin said "Jedi Knight," we would each take a shot of tequila. About 7 shots into the movie, we decided to end the game and I am ridiculously glad that we did, now. It scares me that a shot or two more could have put my life into a ridiculous amount of danger. I know that I'll probably never do anything like that ever again after knowing this. If a 5'6" girl weighing only 107 can die from 8 shots of vodka, I can die from the same amount, if not just a bit more.
The woman and her husband aren't trying to teach people to stop drinking, just to drinking responsibly. I know that I definitely will from now on. I hope you do too.
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