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Two Photographs Tell The Story

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 12, 2007

Updated: 12/10/2007 06:55 pm

Last week, late in the evening, my wife and I turned on the local news. The story was the ongoing tragedy of 22-year-old former "American Idol" finalist Jessica Sierra.

The segment detailed lurid particulars from Sierra's arrest report while displaying two photographs of the singer. One likeness was taken in the wake of a weekend of "clubbing" and the other from happier times.

"Are they even the same woman?" my wife asked, incredulous. She wasn't joking; the transformation was that obvious and the images that disturbing.

It was so obvious that I wish the juxtaposed pictures could be blown up to poster size and displayed prominently on every high school campus in Hillsborough County, maybe beside those impressively smashed-to-bits vehicles the police like to place in full view of young people around prom night and graduation.

The "Don't drink and drive" message is self-evident, but the conspicuous wreckage of such a promising young life as that of the "American Idol" contender is a more present and compelling reality. Young people don't have to get behind the wheel of a car to self-destruct; the results of alcohol abuse can be as disfiguring and life-threatening as any traffic accident on the highway.

I always have enjoyed the vibrancy and refreshing insistency of life associated with young people. The teens and young adults at the church I attend always make me smile; I can't help but be caught up in their energizing enthusiasm.

That's why it's so sickening to witness the kind of senseless deterioration documented in those two telling photographs. The great gift of youth to the world is uncompromising life, and the kind of self-destructive behavior represented in the Sierra story amounts to a pathetic and counterfeit alternative.

It is an alternative that is distressingly evident and relentlessly promoted.

Take a moment, if you will, to digest this stunning statistic from the Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base (2007): "In 2000, almost one in five underage persons aged 12 to 20 was a binge drinker, drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least one day in the past 30 days."

Then, from Al-Anon's Web site: "The 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reveals that the highest prevalence of binge and heavy drinking is for young adults aged 18 to 25, with a binge drinking rate of 41.6 percent, and a 'heavy alcohol use' rate of 15.1 percent."

Two years ago, Sierra was making Page One news because of her talent, her poise and her can-do, spunky approach to the wildly popular "American Idol" contest. She was popular, and she was totally cool. I mention "popular" and "cool" because the No. 1 reason teens start drinking is to be liked, to be accepted and to be perceived as cool.

What could be less cool than vomiting in a patrol car, yelling profanity-laced racial slurs and offering police officers sexual favors?

Young women (and young men) who routinely drink too much move their lives resolutely away from cool and into the realm of dependency, conflict and isolation. They devastate their natural beauty. They take opportunities of a lifetime and trade them for "just a couple more drinks." They become, in short, tragically pathetic.

I'm not interested in browbeating Sierra or preaching any kind of moralistic message, but I am interested in hearing from young adults who believe they can take a similar path and avoid its tragic pitfalls.

If you fall into that category, I would value listening to your point of view. If you're a parent or a friend, please share this column with your 12- to 25-year-old and open some kind of constructive dialogue.

We're well into December and two glaring truths stand in stark contrast.

Too many young people will celebrate the holidays with too much alcohol - some for the first time.

At the same time, the North American economy will rotate around the "greatest story ever told;" it's the only story with the power to provide the antidote to self-destruction. Indeed, that's why the Christ child came.

Columnist Derek Maul can be reached at derekmaul @gmail.com.

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