Life

   I'd like to share some of my experiences of life, not to brag or boast, but hopefully to lift and give hope to someone else with similar struggles.
   I was a senior in high school. Our football team, of which I was part, had recently won the State Championship in our division. I had been a top player on the team.
   A party was being thrown on behalf of the team for students up in the mountains at a ski resort. Two rooms had been rented by former students to hold this celebration.
   I had made a promise to myself never to attend "parties". I knew there were a lot of things going on at parties I did not want to associate myself with. I also had a girlfriend who held the same feelings as myself. So, when invited to this party I politely said, "No thank you."
   The night of the party my girlfriend and I were double dating. The other boy was one of the captains of the football team. While enjoying roasting marshmallows over an indoor fire the captain asked my girlfriend and I if we would accompany he and his date to this party. We explained our lack of desire to attend such an event. He said he felt the same way but also had promised many of the guys that he would make a showing. He further said that if we were with him it would give him a good excuse to leave the party.
   My girlfriend and I took a moment to think about it and then agreed to go with them to the party. At the resort they went into one room, my girlfriend and I went into the other. As soon as we walked in someone jumped up from a large reclining chair and offered it to us. I sat and my girlfriend sat on the arm of the chair. Ahhh....comfortable.
   No sooner had I sat down than the host walked over to me, throwing me a can of beer and said, "Alan, have a beer."
   I threw it back and said that I didn't drink.
    He threw it back and said, "Everyone is drinking".
   I threw it back and said, "I'm not."
   The room was full of my peers and yes...they were all drinking. When entering the room it was noisy with all the talking going on. Now the room was silent and everyone was watching what I would do.
   The host said, "I never won a championship and I'm drinking".
   I said again that I did not drink.
   He said fine...I was relieved that it was over. He walked over to the bar put the beer down and came back with champagne offering that to me. That easy chair was no longer comfortable. At that point I stood with my girlfriend and left the room. As we entered the hall the captain and his date were also just leaving the other room. All of us commented on our disgust with the behavior of what was going on and we left.
   Walking across the parking lot my girlfriend put her arm through mine and gave it a squeeze and said, "I'm proud of you". I felt like a giant. It also hit me that I hadn't just been standing up for myself but that I was defending her honor at the same time.
   What if I took that drink....what would she have done?
   A couple of weeks later my father told me, "I'm proud of you, Alan."
   I asked why?
   He said, "I was talking to one of your friends at that party you attended."
   I swallowed hard....how did he find out I went?
   He continued, "Your friend told me how they admired the courage you had to stand for your beliefs and walk away from that party. Your friend told me they ruined their life that night."

   Was I ridiculed for standing up against my peers. No. In fact I was surprised how they all treated me so well and said they had greater respect for me.
   We live in a world that says alcohol, sex and drugs are all a normal part of life to be indulged in. What do I see after all of these years....many people who are alcoholics, who have been married and divorced at least once. People still searching for what will make them happy.
   Happiness is a gift of inner peace and joy given to those who live and uphold the commandments of God. I'm a witness of that.