My brother Jonny and I used to be close. He's a year younger than me and I can remember when we spent days and days playing together; we were best friends as children. I was always on his side, he was always on mine. We were family and we took the blame together, shared the joy together, everything. In our family it was Chelsea and Jonny, the young ones, the kids. We didn't mind as long as we were in it together. As we grew up and entered high school, things got harder. We started to devolope our own serious opinions, and disagree on things. But i still remember taking walks with him talking the whole time, laughing together, happy to get away from our parents for an hour or so.
Eventually we stopped spending time together. We had the same group of friends, but most of the time Jonny didnt want me around. We had after school jobs that added to our stress. Jonny and my Dad were fighting all the time, and now I couldnt help but take my Dads side. A lot of the things he said made sense.
Somewhere along the line, I dont know exactly when, Jonny started smoking pot. I eventually smoked with him occasionally. But let me just reinforce OCCASIONALLY. Jonny started doing it everyday. Our friends stopped hanging out with him and he got new ones. And everything changed.
Today at lunch I talked to him for a minute, but thats about all he was so blazed. He wondered over to me with a crooked smile on his face, eyes bloodshot, mumbled something unintelligent and walked away.
Now, well its Friday night and Jonnys probably getting high as we speak. About a week ago we found out my dad has to move to New Jersey for a new job, so he'll be about 10 hours away from us for....quite a while. Tonight my dad wanted to take us out to dinner, spend some time with us before he leaves on Sunday morning, but thats not going to happen now because jonny refused to hang out with his dad on a friday night. Pathetically he came up with excuses that just about equaled, "Im not saying i dont want to spend time with my dad on a friday night, but i dont want to spend time with my dad on a friday night!" Pathetic.
Now i cant bring myself to smoke with him. I used to tell him not to do it, then take a hit from his friends $100 bong and laugh about being a hypocrite. But i wont do that anymore. Last night my boyfriend and i were sitting on the couch, watching tv, when my brother invited us to go to his room and smoke a joint with him. My boyfriend wanted to and even after i protested, he left me to smoke with Jonny. I sat on the couch feeling incredibly alone.
Theres alot of reasons to encourage or discourage people from smoking pot. But what seems overwhelmingly true is that the bad consequences weigh out the good ones. In my opinion smoking weed isnt that bad. its really not. the high you get from it is probably nothing more dangerous than smoking a cigarette. and it makes you feel relaxed sure. so go ahead, smoke a joint once in a while. where you start to run into problems is when you become addicted, like my brother, and do it everyday. when you cant get by without pot. that is dependency and dependency in any form is not a good thing. you are breaking the law on a daily basis, but more than that, you are detatching yourself from LIFE on a daily basis. from your friends. your family. all the people who love you and need you will stop even knowing who you are. YOU WILL CHANGE, mostly likely, for the worse.
Me, Im drug free and im thinking about how i can make the world a better place. im saving up to go to my dream college.
Jonny gets high everyday and thinks about the next time he can get high. he spends his paychecks on weed. college? i sure hope so.
just think about it.
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Weed is a topic I'm not well versed on but definitely the reason why people smoke is one to be debated. People I think like to run away from problems instead of like you said trying "to make the world a better place" and that is an issue.
Your Brother Rhino!
You are incredibly strong to be alone and stick to your principles. It must be hard to face off against both your boyfriend and your brother like that. I admire your strength and would encourage you to keep trying. Maybe one day, your brother will hear you.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina