Auntie Charo's Soapbox

I usually count to ten before I write about an issue that burns me up. The death of that sixteen-year old lad caused me to count much further than ten! What were they serving at the party the boy and his brother attended? Why wasn't anyone watching to see if he wasn't sneaking a drink, or two? Boys in their teens have that 'macho' need to drink, to show off, to be 'one of the boys'. He was probably showing his older brother that he could drink and hold his own. If I were the 21-yr. old brother, I'd deny that I knew anything about little brother drinking. Heck, I'd deny it to my grave. I'd even deny that I smelled liquor on his breath. If he(the brother) was drunk, or drinking, he couldn't smell liquor on anyone's breath because he couldn't smell any further than his own breath, duh! All the dumb questions one asks after a tragedy.
I see Dr. Tom Shieh's face on television as I write these words. Change the drinking age. The family's picture on the front page of the Pacific Daily News should be on the poster board for the changing of the drinking age Bill. This needless death and destruction of that family's life is the very reason that the drinking age should be changed. It would be a start for people to realize that the culture of this island be carefully reviewed, that it's not a 'compliment' for a beer company to create a canvas to hang over the homeowner's garage announcing a birthday, wedding, Christening celebration, touting lots and lots of Bud or Miller Beer. What an embarrassment if the party where this young boy attended had a celebratory canvas touting the beer and he died because he drank too much of the stuff!
It would be foolish of me to say that this boy just drank because he thought it was the macho thing to do. There are many more causes and there isn't enough time or bandwidth to go into the whys one does such things at such an early age, suffice it to say, perhaps as parents, we should take the time to listen to our teenagers, to the things that bother them, and to give them love and affection. They appear as if they don't need or want it, but as human beings, we all need that hug, that reinforcement, that acknowledgment that we matter. It may be too late for this boy, but don't let it be too late for your child. Don't let a sun set without telling your children that you love and care for them. You may get a call in the middle of the night and be told that they dead, 'I love you' forever locked in your throat.