Tough Love
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude
By Jody Fuller

Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.
~Les Brown

I wasn’t a bad kid, but I did like to drink beer. In 1991, at the age of nineteen, it caught up with me and I was arrested for possession and consumption of alcohol by a minor. The judge threw the book at me.

I, along with three of my friends, had to perform eight days of community service, which took place on Saturday and Sunday for four weekends. The orange jumpsuits were attractive and attention grabbing as we strolled alongside the local highways. Additionally, there was a $100 fine, a $100 ten-hour school, three years of probation, and $44 in court costs.

While my pals were out drinking the very next night and telling war stories from our short time behind bars, I did not have a sip of alcohol for several months. Finally, after four months, I had a couple of drinks at a trailer park on the outskirts of town. Later in the night, a fight broke out and bad things happened. Although I was not a part of the fight, I saw the writing on the wall and knew I needed to make a change. I just wasn’t sure what that change should be. (Keep reading)