Informative/Entertainment Speech – The Hazards Of Drinking And Walking Essay, Research Paper

BEER! Oh my god, I love beer. I could drink it all day and all night. Beer, wine, vodka, rum, whiskey, anything with an alcohol content I could guzzle in an instant. But that does get dangerous, and I’m not talking about drinking and driving. I’m talking about drinking and walking. Take, for example, the man in West Virginia, who was at a party drinking, and managed to blow off his own face in the process. The AP newswire service reported last year that 24-year-old Jerry Stromyer, in a true example of inebriated genius , popped a blasting cap into his mouth and bit down while he was drinking at a party one night. Corporal M. D. Payne, of the West Virginia state police, reported that another man had the cap in an aquarium, hooked to a battery, and was trying to explode it. When the cap wouldn’t go off, Stromyer decided to show off the fact that HE knew how to make it explode. He put it in his mouth and bit down. It blew all his teeth off, his tongue and his lips. Many more people have alcohol-related injuries that have nothing to do with driving, and today I would like to tell you about what can happen if precautions are not taken.

People get hurt every day doing stupid things. Take, for example, the Universal Press Syndicate’s report last year of the man from Portland, Oregon, who was shot through the skull by a hunting arrow, and lost his right eye. A friend tried to shoot a beer can off his head in a drunken initiation into a men’s rafting club, Mountain Men Anonymous. Had the arrow been another millimeter off in any direction, the man would have died of brain hemmorage and internal bleeding.

Then there is the popular, but true, story of the California man who decided that he wanted to fly. Since he had been refused from the Air Force, he decided to take some weather balloons which he had somehow obtained, strap them to his lawn chair, and take a six-pack of Miller Lite and his shotgun on a joyride through the skies. Unfortunately, this brilliant one lost control of his makeshift airplane, and ended up being arrested for violating the airspace at the Los Angeles International Airport.

Alcohol is a very dangerous substance. The Alcohol Research Group of Berkley, California, reports that it slows the brain’s ability to process information, resulting in a slowing of reflexes and motor skills, which can result in injuries such as mine, caused by slipping, falling, and other things while walking when drunk. In addition, Professor David Hilton of the State University of New York says that in mass quantities over an extended period of time, alcohol can harden the liver, infect the kidneys, and cause serious brain damage. In addition to the long-term physiological effects of drinking, one’s ability to make conscious intelligent descisions is inhibited as well, as shown in these examples.

And then there’s the story of the man that decided to go bungee jumping. Kerry Bingham, of Tacoma, Washington, decided to jump off of a bridge that ran over a river. He and some friends arrived at about 4:30 in the morning, and then realized that none of them had any bungee cord. Bingham, who had continued drinking, volunteered and pointed out that a coil of lineman’s cable lay nearby. So, they tied one end to his leg, and the other end to the bridge. He jumped, and fell about 40 feet, before the cable became taut and tore off his foot at the ankle. He fell into the freezing water below, and was lucky enough to be saved by two fishermen.

People from all over tend to do very stupid things when under the influence, and usually none of the problems are related to cars. Another pair from Washington, John Pernicky and friend Sal Hawkins, decided to attend a Metallica concert. Although they had no tickets to the show, they did happen to have 18 beers with them. Separating them from the concert was a nine-foot high fence. The two decided that it would be simple if one of them were to jump over the fence, and aid the other over, thereby allowing them to see the show. The two friends pulled their pickup truck over to the fence and the plan was for John, who was about 100 pounds heavier than Sal, to hop first. Wouldn’t you know it, there was a thirty-foot drop on the other side of the fence. As soon as John jumped over the fence, he found himself with a broken arm, hanging by his shorts in a tree. John noticed that there were some bushes below. He pulled out his pocket knife, and managed to free himself by cutting loose his shorts. A second or so later, he found himself in some holly bushes, with a holly branch firmly implanted in his rectal cavity, and his trusty pocket knife, which had fallen with him, implanted three inches into his left thigh.

Seeing his friend in such bad shape, Sal decided to throw him a rope and pull him out. Since he weighed significantly less than John, Sal decided to tie the rope to the pickup truck. In his drunken state, Sal put the truck reverse instead of drive, ended up crashing through the fence, landing on and killing his friend, throwing Sal from the truck and killing him as well. Police arrived to find a pickup truck with its driver thrown 100 feet from the vehicle and upon moving the truck, a half naked man, with numerous scratches, a holly stick up his rectum, a knife in his thigh,and a pair of shorts dangling from the tree branches 25 feet in the air.

. Nobody needs to end up injured, or even worse, from jumping over a fence, off a bridge, or doing any of these other twisted things I’ve discussed today. We all went through some sort of drug or alcohol program at some point during our educations. So, don’t be like all these people. If you drink, drink responsibly. And if you don’t want to, which I’m sure each and every one of us can understand, please, don’t try and walk around! Just sit where you are! Don’t drive, most definitely don’t think about walking, dancing, or even trying to make a conscious decision! Sit around, drink a few more until you pass out, and let someone else take you home.

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