Alcohol Poisoning Awareness

Shelby Allen.

Tonight i saw a presentation on something that has become a serious issue in the teenage world. It has found its way into the lives of some adults as well. The subject for tonight's blog post is Alcohol Poisoning. There is this wonderful woman by the name of Debbie Allen. She is the mother of Shelby Allen, who passed away on December 20, 2008. Shelby was a girl who simply loved life. Her motto was "Dig Life!" Her mother was so proud of her and loved her so much. Shelby had gone to a friends house for a party at approximately 12:40 am with her best friend, Alyssa, on this night. At this party, there was alcohol and parents that hadn't put a stop to this dangerous action. Shelby had a few drinks, ended up hitting her head on the toilet, and cut her lip and bruised her cheek. Her friend continued to take pictures and watch her as she lay propped up against the toilet. She was "half snoring and shaking", as her friend described. The next morning, Alyssa awoke to her friend, dead on the floor. This beautiful girl had been the victim of something that is 100% preventable. The autopsy had shown that all that was in her stomach at her time of death, was 8 oz of alcohol. (please visit her website: http://shelbysrulesfoundation.com)

However, Shelby is not the only one who has suffered from alcohol poisoning. There are many other people who have died from this fatal action. Please, if you see someone who is drinking, encourage them to stop. You just never know if you or your friend will be the unlucky one who does not wake up.

Shortly after the passing of her daughter, Debbie had come up with "Shelby's Rules". The first thing Shelby and her mother would like everyone to know, is that "Secrets Kill". Not calling 9-1-1 is basically allowing your friend to die. By keeping these things a secret, you aren't giving your friend the chance to live again. Studies have shown that 100% of the people that go into the emergency room with alcohol poisoning, and get the help they need, have come out just fine. They lived. You MUST notify someone of these things. Alcohol + Passed out(unresponsive) = 9-1-1.
Some of the symptoms of alcohol poisoning include:

• Vomiting
• Person cannot be roused
• Semi-consciousness or unconsciousness

Please do not be afraid to call. You are the difference between life and death for that person.
Also, there are some myths I would like to tell you about. Coffee is NOT a cure for a hangover. It takes time. Do NOT shower the victim. The water my be a shock to the victim and will put them in a coma and they will die. Letting them sleep it off is NOT an effective option. Again, they may slip into a coma and not wake up.

Braxton Anderson

Please educate everyone you know about this. There is nothing funny about seeing someone unconscious from the alcohol. We do not need someone to leave this earth for something like this. There is so much that I learned tonight. A lot of this was completely new to me.  I knew drinking was a problem, but I was not aware of how serious this is. Please check out The Allen's website and learn all you can about this. Who knows, maybe you can save the life of someone you know. Thank you so much for reading this. It means a lot to me. I love you all!

~This post was made in memory of Braxton Anderson, Shelby Anderson, and every other victim of alcohol poisoning. May you rest in peace.~

Be Cautious, Not Judgmental.

One night there was a woman at the airport who had to wait for several hours before catching her next flight. While she waited she bought a book and a pack of biscuits to spend the time. She looked for a place to sit and waited. She was deep into her book, when suddenly she realized that there was a young man sitting next to her who was stretching his hand, with no concern whatsoever, and grabbing the pack of cookies lying between them. He started to eat them one by one. Not wanting to make a fuss about it she decided to ignore him. The woman, slightly bothered, ate the cookies and watched the clock, while the young and shameless thief of biscuits was also finishing them. The woman started to get really angry at this point and thought ‘If I wasn’t such a good and educated person, I would have given this daring man a black eye by now.’

Every time she ate a biscuit, he had one too. The dialogue between their eyes continued and when only one biscuit was left, she wondered what was he going to do. Softly and with a nervous smile, the young man grabbed the last biscuit and broke it in two. He offered one half to the woman while he ate the other half. Briskly she took the biscuit and thought, ‘What an insolent man! How uneducated! He didn’t even thank me!’ She had never met anybody so fresh and sighed relieved to hear her flight announced. She grabbed her bags and went towards the boarding gate refusing to look back to where that insolent thief was seated. After boarding the plane and nicely seated, she looked for her book which was nearly finished by now. While looking into her bag she was totally surprised to find her pack of biscuits nearly intact. ‘If my biscuits are here’, she thought feeling terribly, ‘those others were his and he tried to share them with me.’ Too late to apologize to the young man, she realized with pain, that it was her who had been insolent, uneducated and a thief, and not him. (story borrowed from http://alqamardesigns.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/think-twice-before-judging-others/)

It's really easy for us to judge other people, especially if they don't come from the same type of living situation, or even the same class in our economy. Most of the time, people are judged by the clothing they wear and the little mistakes they make. We don't know the situations people are in, so who are we to judge them? In my opinion, we should leave the judging up to God, the one who knows every single person better than they know themselves. Get to know people. Don't immediately label them just because of what they wear. All this goes back to "Don't judge a book by it's cover." People aren't always what they seem. Besides, if you judge people, you have no time to love them. Be cautious about people (meaning look at their intentions and personalities), but under no circumstance should you be judgmental about their outward appearance. My mom always told me "I don't care if the people you see are blue, purple, orange, green, round, square, or have funny hair styles. Be nice to them, they could eventually be your best friend."