Discussions

Respond to these 3 classmates, saying what you liked and agreed with what they wrote. 80-90 words

1.When speaking on this subject its very touchy for me because I went through it with my grandpa from my dad’s side of the family. My grandpa was a man full of life and brought so much happiness in any room he walked in to, but he was hiding a be scared was that he was fighting addiction, and no one knew until one day he was caught. My grandpa would smoke a pack of cigarettes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but he was also drinking every day while no one noticed until he came home drunk one night. The reason why no one noticed was because since he worked so late by the time, he got home everyone was always sleeping so no one noticed. Now my grandpa’s life changed forever once he couldn’t let go of those two things because we all saw a change in him, his personally changed that he wasn’t even happy anymore, he had no energy to do anything but to sit and watch TV. Those things were just taking the life out of my grandpa right in front of our eyes and we didn’t know what to do because his addition was so strong, he didn’t even listen to us trying to help them. He made the cigarettes and alcohol his top priority. Which is so scary because we all felt so helpless with him because we were losing a fight with my grandpa, when he wanted help, he became so unhealthy that he looked so dried out because of the many years of his addiction. One thing I can say is if you caught it from when it starts please try to stop it because sometimes you can’t even help the person because it becomes difficult to change it.  

2. There is one person in my family that has gone through addiction. My cousin and I grew up together in the same home and were basically sisters. She was a sophomore in Highschool when it all started. She tried marijuana and enjoyed it so much that she would do it mostly every day. We used to share a room together, so she sometimes would even do it at night time when I was "asleep" out of our window. But it didn't stop there. She decided she wanted to try more things and explore more drugs out there. My grandparents, the ones who took care of us, found out that she was doing such drugs. At the age of 17, she decided to sneak out and not come back home. We contacted the police and they were able to find where she was staying. We tried putting her into a rehab center for addiction, but once she got out she continued to do the same things.  At this point she was 18 and able to do whatever she wanted, so she moved out and things just got worse. To this day, she continues to do all types of drugs and doesn't want help. We have offered her help since the age of 16. She is now 23 years old and nothing has changed. At this point, the only person that can help her is herself. Her addition has made me realize how powerful drugs can really be,  what they can do to a person and how fast addiction can take over someones whole life. 

3. Drug and alcohol addiction is a very serious and sad matter, I had a cousin that had a drug addiction to cocaine. At the time she had seven kids so my aunt had taken the kids from her while she was on the streets. During this time I remember my cousin being skinny before she got on drugs she worked out and was very fit. I remember one Christmas she stopped by my grandmas house and it was like she was a whole different person. First it was like she had a little twitch to herself and she was scratching herself, her hair wasn't combed and her clothes were dirty and big on her. Her speech was slightly slurred and she was very skinny than normal she didn't look like herself at all. As a family we of course was just trying to help her in a way by giving her some food and finding her some clean clothes to put on and trying to get her to shower at the house. My cousin did eat a little bit of her food but that was about it she didn't want anyone to touch her hair nor did she want to shower or put on any clean clothes. After two years in 2008 of my cousin being on crack and on cocaine she has now been clean of drugs for 10 years as a family we are so proud and happy for her. She now has her kids back and most importantly her life back, she will personally tell you that fighting and getting off of drugs wasn't easy and that the person that has a drug addiction has to want to get off drugs themselves as a family we had paid for my cousin to go to rehab sometimes she would go and check out and then sometimes she wouldn't go at all. One day she said she had had enough and decided to check into rehab , it was the best  decision she has ever made. My cousin currently has her own cleaning business and is doing well and my family and myself are super proud of her.