IT’S YOUR LIFE: CHOOSE WISELY Decisions, Life and a New Approach to Smoking
(3,000 Freshman,
The animation and accompanying text, leads students to the inescapable conclusion that the decision to smoke results in a tremendously weakened body, a lower quality of life, and huge direct and indirect economic losses. Since most teenagers react indifferently to the issue of how long their lives might last, the focus of this presentation centers around the direct day to day impact of smoking on a person’s life. The differences between the smoker’s heart rate, breathing rate, and blood content highlight the wear and tear which accompanies smoking, as well as the diminished ability to perform basic tasks as the body deteriorates from smoking.
The entry of tar and poisonous gasses into the body organs and blood is graphically illustrated via animation which resonates strongly with the students who see it. The economic realities are highlighted by computations which demonstrate that the average smoker will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime of smoking, and that ultimately, that the body will break down much more quickly due to the tar and poisons which permeate the body of a smoker.
LIFE, DECISIONS & FREEDOM (Los Angeles County Central Juvenile Hall, 2004)
IIncarcerated minors have generally made a lifetime of negative decisions which have taken them to one logical destination: lock up. In this lesson, students are directly confronted with the reality that if they do not change the manner in which they process information and make decisions, their lives will be spent in a locked facility. Conversely, they are shown that by making the necessary changes in their perspective on life and decision making in general, they can participate in all of the benefits offered by Society.
Education and job training are emphasized as essential ingredients to a free and productive life. The typical student remark that ‘I will change when I get out’ is met with the reality that unless changes are made in perspective and intellect while in Juvenile Hall, their brains will function exactly the same when they get out and they can be certain that they will return to the Hall or a more restrictive situation. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is used to illustrate the critical point that perspective is a function of life experiences and environment and that, in understanding this and taking certain concrete steps, they have the ability to construct a positive view of life which can be intellectually sustained, one that will lead to becoming free and productive members of Society.