SON'S ESSAY STIRS MEMORIES OF NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION PAST

It was two years ago today when I made the first New Year's
resolution I ever kept. I was on the deck, sneaking a cigarette with
a friend, when my son, Will, came rushing outside.

Seeing Dad with a cigarette in his mouth, the tears welled up in
Will's eyes as he yelled, "What are you doing? Do you want to die of cancer?"

He ran back inside and sequestered himself downstairs until I made
this solemn promise: "Son, I will never let you catch me smoking again."

At first, I thought I had him on a technicality. As long as I never
let him CATCH me smoking, I was not breaking my promise. But I
realized that would be dishonest.

Besides, as a "social smoker" who only occasionally bummed a
cigarette or two from obliging friends, it was a good time to stop a
sporadic vice before it became a bad habit-one I could not break.

I was reminded of that resolution last month, when my son was among
the winners of his school's DARE program essay contest. This time,
the tears were welling up in my eyes. This time, they were tears of
pride as Will read his essay aloud.

And they were tears of hope that the lessons learned from the DARE
officers, combined with Will's own moral compass, will help him stay
on the right path as he continues his journey through life.

Please pardon this proud papa while he shares his son's essay:

Hi! I'm Will! I am 11 years old, and I'm a fifth-grader at Junaluska
Elementary School. At school, we had a class called DARE (aka Drug
Abuse Resistance Education). They told us about some drugs and how
they affect your body. There were three drugs that really got to me:
tobacco, marijuana and methamphetamine.

The first drug I have to talk about is tobacco. It is a legal drug
but should be illegal for the horrible effects it has on your body.
But before I tell you the effects, I will tell you the history of
tobacco. In the 1600s, travelers discovered tobacco. They put it in
their pipes or rolled it in paper and smoked it, and they put it in
their mouths and chewed it. Soon, it became very popular, and many
people became addicted to it.

But in the 1960s, scientists discovered it was harmful. Smoking is
the No. 1 cause of lung cancer. It also causes throat cancer, heart
disease, yellow teeth, shortness of breath, wrinkles and pollution.
If you think smoking tobacco is bad, then maybe you're not a fan of
chewing tobacco, either. Chewing tobacco causes many things such as
dehydration, ugly gross mouth and mouth cancer. If you do not want a
hole in your throat and your voice box removed, then don't smoke
tobacco. If you do not want part of your face removed, then don't chew tobacco.

If you think tobacco is bad, just let me tell you about marijuana. It
is a lot like tobacco except you can't chew it. It is illegal, unlike
tobacco ... and don't ask me why tobacco is legal. Marijuana can
cause short-term memory loss because it damages your brain cells. It
also causes lung and throat cancer. So it affects your brain, lungs,
throat and the rest of your body. It also can make you lazy, inactive
and dumber. So that is two drugs down, one to go .

Last but not least, methamphetamine (aka meth). It is illegal and
should be. Meth makes you have a lot of bad stuff in your body and
can kill you on the first try. It is very, VERY addictive, and people
who use meth only care about meth. It also makes you hallucinate very
much, and it makes your skin raw because you think there are
imaginary bugs on it and you scratch it until it bleeds. People who
take meth claim they had seen little green men (this is another
hallucination). Finally, some people who take meth looked like they
aged 20 years in just TWO years.

All these drugs can kill you, so please don't take them. I'm glad I do not.

I am, too, son. I am, too.