Mistakes

Last night, I was at church, and we were talking about how a kid died from playing the pass-out game. If you're unfamilar, it's depriving yourself of air until you pass out, usually resulting in a high when you come back. Teenagers, especially younger ones, having been doing it for years. Anyway, I admitted to my youth group that I have played this game-once-and then also admitted my regret and how stupid it was, and advised them (they are mostly composed of younger preteens) against it. My youth minister looked at me like I told her I had commited murder when I was 13 or something. Obviously, playing the game was stupid. I put myself at risk, and looking back, I have no clue why. Our lives are so fragile already- why put yourself at unnecessary harm? The fact is, we do it everyday. I'm not rebellious or dangerous by any means, but I have done my share of stupid things, like when I was 12 or 13 and my friends and I rode from one friend's house to mine- on a golf cart. Yeah. On a main 45 mph road, for at least three miles. AND BACK! (after I'd been advised against it. I mean, told NOT to do it!) What?! Looking back, I realize how easily a car could have come around a corner and we would have been gone. Although at the time, I had no idea why they were upset about it (and why I got grounded for two weeks), now I really feel like I should take Chris and Lori out to dinner for putting them through that. I snuck out of my friend's apartment one time to play truth or dare by the highway, in my pajamas, at midnight. Really smart. I've put myself in a rather compromisable state around guys, where I could have been taken advantage of. And that was pretty recently. I've mixed medecine and alchol. Pretty recently. My point is that although I am by no means a seasoned, wise person, I've made tons of stupid mistakes and I've learned from them. I should be able to share them- and what I've learned- with those younger than me without judgement from older people. Although I have made a lot of mistakes, there have been just as many times- if not more- when I said no to a party, a drink, a guy, and I knew that I had made the right choice. But that doesn't always happen. We make mistakes, stupid, stupid mistakes, and we learn. And although I still make mistakes all the time- stupid ones, albeit- I only played the pass out game once. You live. You learn.