Empower Your Kids to be Kids Against Drugs Issue #2.4
‘What If?’
Michael J. Meredith (Mick) Publisher
April 27, 2002
Dear,
Thank you for subscribing to our e-zine. This is the general newsletter of the Kids Against Drugs Campaign For Drug-Free Families. You may have been subscribed by a friend or family member and will receive it every other week or so. If for some reason you wish to unsubscribe you may do so at any time. Instructions to unsubscribe are at the end of this newsletter.
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A NOTE TO TEEN SUBSCRIBERS: This is a great newsletter for your parents and grandparents to have. Please forward this on to them.
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Weekly Thought: "We share what we know, so that others may grow."
Unknown, submitted by Craig Lock
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Campaign News:
An exciting time for us is about to begin. Since our last newsletter I have been to Florida and had news video shot and a video news release prepared. This will be sent to all TV news stations nationwide via satellite on the first of May 2002. You can view this video news release by going to http://www.nnswire.com and find the headline about Kids Against Drugs and click on the ‘more’ hyperlink. This should be available for viewing by Monday evening.
If all goes as expected we should be ‘discovered’ by the media shortly after the first of May. I anticipate much exposure and many inquires about the program. This should lead to sales of the Family Action Training Plan, seminars and workshops set up, interviews on radio, in magazines and newspapers. All this exposure will be great for our growth as it creates activity, membership growth and cash flow.
I continue to receive some very interesting calls and e-mail. Of course the ‘hate mail’ comes every day and this exposure has increased the amount of it. New subscribers continue to sign up for this E-zine. We finally got the problem with AOL worked out. It seems that when they coded in the agreement with our host they made a one-letter typo in the code, which was causing the rejection of our newsletter to all of our AOL subscribers.
I had 144 each of the first 4 designs of our T-shirts printed up and they are ready for immediate shipment. The Kids Against Drugs web site’s shopping cart will be ready to take orders by Tuesday April 30, 2002. I have shown the T-shirts to many individuals around here and in Florida this past week. I am pleased and very excited with the positive response from the average young person. I have more than 20 slogans in the design process and as funds are available we will add them into the line.
I continue to expand and rework the web site in anticipation of this exposure. I have added the T-shirts, a sponsor’s area, with several sub-pages, a newsletter archive, banners and buttons for linking to other sites and made refinements throughout the site, especially in the affiliate area. We were having problems with the shopping cart ‘speaking’ to the processing center and got all those little bugs worked out.
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NOTICE, It is important to review the following:
It might be noted here that ‘The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to Reduce Youth Drug Use In the Local Community’ has recently started ‘The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign’. We are all watching the TV ads linking drug purchases and terrorism but have you been aware of the articles appearing in the local media? Yup, there is an organized concerted effort among the various types of media to join forces with the White House on this issue. Yes, I think it’s great.
An example of a weekly series about the drug issue is the series found in Utah’s ‘Deseret News’. You can find these wonderful, well-written and informative articles at http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,380007229,00.html. Many newspapers, magazines, TV programs (i.e. CBS’s “The Education of Max Bickford” mentioned in our last issue), documentaries, radio talk show guests and such are going to be part of the media scene for the next few months.
All of this media exposure about the drug issue will have a powerful impact upon the public. There are even some who will have the courage to quit using drugs and many who will resolve to never use them. Of course this attention raises the awareness level very high and will make it much easier for us to be heard. It becomes even more important for us to let everyone we know about our ‘Family Action Training Plan’. From what I have been able to discover we are the only ones who have a program to be used in the home and aimed specifically to parents, to help empower their kids to be ‘Kids Against Drugs’.
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Family Action Tip: (From the Family Action Training Plan)
One of the most powerful basic things you can do to help your child know why he/she should resist the pressure to use recreational drugs is to explain to them who they are, where they came from and what is expected of them. They have to know and understand they are part of a great family of individuals who have overcome life’s trials before them and that they can also do that. With this valuable knowledge they can set up life’s guideposts for their own life.
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Main Article: ‘What If?’
During the past 15 or so years I have had the opportunity to personally talk with hundreds (if not thousands) of people who have a substance abuse addiction. Some have overcome their addiction and others haven’t. The other day I was talking with someone at the airport and they made the statement, “If I hadn’t taken that first one I would not have been using this for the past 22 years.” He had just found out he had oral cancer and was stunned that it had happened to him. I pondered about that and then realized that I have heard that statement over the years hundreds of times from hundreds of people as they have told me their story.
It is quite common as one becomes older to take moments to review their life. All of us have made ‘What If?’ statements about various things that we did and decisions we made. I personally have several ‘What Ifs’.
I have learned that this life is for us to learn how to overcome obstacles. Some of these we have to learn by personal experience and others we can learn from the experiences of others. I have also discovered that it doesn’t hurt when you learn from the experiences of others.
Some of us choose to dwell on what we didn’t do and feel sorry that we choose wrong, while others acknowledge that they made a bad choice, learned I don’t want to do that again and move on to the next phase.
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“Family Action Training, Don’t Let Your Kids Leave Home Without It! Their Future Depends On It!” Michael Meredith says you can get your Family Action Training Workshop Materials at our web site: http://www.kidsagainstdrugs.com
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I believe a strong home-based program is needed so parents can learn about drugs and become Parents Against Drugs. Then they teach their own children about recreational drug-use and turn them into Kids Against Drugs. Primarily this program should be used in the home and its values and techniques should be reinforced in school, the work place and church. Stopping recreational drug-use starts in the home one-on-one within the family unit.
I refer to the new home study workshop I have developed. I call it the Family Action Training Plan Home Workshop. This training plan gives parents exactly what they need to learn the true facts about the recreational drug issue. It also shows them how to present this information to their own family. Our web site http://www.kidsagainstdrugs.com explains all about this program and how to get it. This is a valuable educational resource about recreational drugs. It’s for families, kids and teens. The teen area on the web site provides great information for school reports and activities.
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NOTICE: Check out the Internet Eye Doctor. He offers great deals on contact lenses and other eyeglass things. His prices are wonderful and service is first rate and fast. Go to our website at http://www.kidsagainstdrugs.com and scroll down the page to the ad for Internet Eye Doctor. Part of your purchase price supports Kids Against Drugs Campaign For Drug-Free Families. Click on the ad and it will take you right to their website. If you need contacts or eyeglasses it’s a great service. You can count on it. He also has a fantastic affiliate plan if you are interested in earning a few extra dollars.
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Did You Know?
The number one reason kids try drugs is peer pressure. I truly believe that talking good common sense facts and techniques with your kids, followed-up with loving support and continuous encouragement is the best way for you to help them turn down peer pressure and to stop experimenting with drugs. I believe this will do more to save the lives of kids than the billions of dollars spent to stop production and distribution will ever do.
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ATTENTION GRANDPARENTS: Special Alert! Grandparents NOW HAVE a new unique opportunity to help their grandchildren become Kids Against Drugs. Sponsor the ‘Kids Against Drugs Family Action Training Plan’ into your grandchild’s home and then go through the whole program WITH them. Check it out at the Kids Against Drugs website at http://www.kidsagainstdrugs.com.
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This type of family activity has been proven over and over again to be very effective and builds a strong family. When you have a loving home environment with guidelines and rules you and the kids bond together and the children learn to trust your judgment. Of course it takes some preparation, some planning, timing and practice. It’s about families and it’s worth it. Kids love it.
These terrorists have altered our life style, maybe for the better, in a dramatic way. Many of us have taken a step away and taken a look at their values and have made adjustments. I believe we should seize the moment and consider our relationships with our children and other family members.
In our economy, supply and demand creates the market. If kids and the other users worldwide stopped buying and using drugs, then there would be no demand and no reason for the producers to produce. In our own small way we would stop the cash flow those drug purchases create and stop funding terrorism. Without money terrorism would have a harder time to succeed. Yes, it’s a simple approach, but I assure you it is the only way that will really work over the long term.
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I am including a great article from Craig Lock. You can include this in your Family Discussions and it will help you show your kids how to make good decisions.
HOW TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS
by Craig Lock
Especially the really
important ones...
Life is full of decisions; we make hundreds of them every day.
Most are automatic and minor ones. However, occasionally we
are compelled to make vitally important decisions about major
life-goals. These decisions are often practical or ethical ones. For
example, we occasionally have to take major decisions like
choosing a marriage partner (assuming they'll take you, that is),
choosing to leave a partner in marriage, or decisions about what
to do with your life.
HINTS IN DECISION MAKING
A positive attitude to
life helps make major decision making far
easier and less stressful. Here are some general hints on
decision making (although it's one of my weakest areas); but
I'm trying hard to improve...
1. Get rid of your mental blocks.
2. Give up the notion
that there is only one 'right solution'
to the problem/dilemma you are confronting.
3. Don't fear making a mistake.
4. View your problems
as a normal part of life (is that possible?).
Every problem requiring a decision is an
"opportunity in disguise".
5. See yourself not as
an indecisive person; but rather someone
who sometimes behaves indecisively...that's a rather kind way
of putting it.
6. Develop your
intuition and logic, but listen to what your heart
says (gut feeling).
7. Stop and think
before you act. Stop yourself doing the first
thing you think of. That's me for sure!
8. Be specific.
9. Know what your
goals and your values are, the principles of
your existence, before taking a major life decision. Ask yourself,
if the ideal outcome is in alignment with your values.
10. Write down all the
positive and negative factors for and
against taking a particular course of action. American president,
Benjamin Franklin did it in two columns when confronted with
major decisions.
11. Think how the
decision will benefit YOU first. Do what you
and not what other people really want.
12. Try to think calmly and rationally (very difficult for me).
13 ("lucky"). Do your
homework and get all the facts before
you make the decision.
14. Get opinions and
feedback from others you trust; but don't
let them make the decision for you.
15. Establish
priorities and "soul search" (for a "soul mate"). Ask
yourself what are the critical factors? What is the single most
important consideration?
16. Trust your
impulses, your "gut-feelings". Use your intuition through
meditation - this is "God, the Universe" "speaking" back to us through all
the "accumulated wisdom" of the world.
17. Don't take your
decision too seriously; nothing is that
important, no matter how much it appears like that to you. Ask
yourself how much will it really matter in one, five or ten years
time? Remember, no decision is irreversible; if you find out some
way down the track that you've taken the wrong course. But
some decisions are pretty important: finding another lover, or
trading in the "old man" (I chose that word very carefully; so I
wouldn't be beaten up by the feminists).
18. Look for
OPPORTUNITIES in any decision. Each "mistake" is
an opportunity to learn. I've launched into a writing "career"
from a "mistake" (???) coming to the other side of the world.
"Crazy wife!" A problem became a great opportunity to do
something I'd never ever thought of doing (is it the "winds of fate",
"the unseen hand of God", perhaps guiding me in a conscious decision).
If you are making mistakes, you are not learning and growing.
So say to yourself, "it doesn't really matter", or "so what"...
then "get into this world".
19. Accept total
responsibility for your decisions. Responsibility is
not BLAME - so don't blame others for putting yourself in this
predicament. Sorry 'wif'! This attitude helps to relieve your
anger or resentment and gives one peace of mind.
20. Change course if
your strategy is not working - the quality of
your life is at stake. My mistake is that I persist on a chosen
course for far too long at times, like writing! Learn when to
correct your direction. "If you don't change direction, you'll end
up where you're heading".
Bear in mind that
pilots are off course on their flight-path 90% of
the time... but they still arrive at their destination. Usually! When
driving you are also continually making little corrections; so there's
hope for me yet.
21. Be prepared to
take a few risks in life. Look out for
opportunities. Every successful business or venture started out
with an idea which was a risk. Nothing is infallible. The knowledge
that you can handle anything that comes your way is your key
to allowing yourself to take risks. Security is a state of mind. It's
not having things, it's HANDLING things.
and finally,
22. Look ahead to the
future in a spirit of hope and optimism -
the past is already gone. See the path ahead as an adventure
into the unknown and a time for challenge with many new
opportunities. Every problem requiring a decision is an
"opportunity in disguise".
It's a matter of
making correct small daily decisions, which are
our "stepping-stones" on the road to success
I love the following quotation...
"The past is history,
the future is a mystery,
and this moment is the gift,
that is why this moment is called the present."
- Depak Chopra
May all your decisions
guide you towards a prosperous and happy tomorrow
May all your moments be full of joy and the rich promise of the future.
Craig Lock
http://www.craiglock.com
Creative Writing Course
http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/creative.html
Craig's various books
are available at:
http://www.bridgeniche.com/CLOCK/zaniestbooks.htm
* Hard copies and
e-books: Fiction and non-fiction, novels
travel, humor, inspiration, self help and money books
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If you have any suggestions or want to contribute articles and stories, please submit them to us by sending e-mail to: Click Here
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IMPORTANT NOTICE: In order for us to spread our message to the world we are doing a couple of things here. First we are asking you to forward this e-zine (don’t spam) to someone you know who you think would be interested in receiving it. With this issue we have 515 subscribers and if everyone sent it to ten others we would increase our mailing list very fast. Second we have our own affiliate program, which you can join for free.
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: We are currently scheduling seminars. If you would like to sponsor a seminar for a group in your area please contact me and let’s talk. Send an E-mail to me subject: seminar?
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20 years ago I took on the challenge to find and do something about stopping recreational drug-use. I have learned much along the way. It has been exciting and a challenge. I ask you to join me in the Campaign For Drug-Free Families and become a Parent Against Drugs? Will you share this great program with your family, especially your kids? I believe the best protection from personable drug-pushing terrorists is a well-prepared Kid Against Drugs. Being part of the Kids Against Drugs Campaign For Drug-Free Families will give you the tools and support to your kid to be a Kid Against Drugs.
Thank you for subscribing and I welcome you. I promise I will use every tool and my total effort to make this e-zine a valuable and informative publication.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Meredith, Publisher.
America’s Drug Prevention Network, Inc.
My E-mail: Click Here
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About the Author: Michael Meredith is the Founder of the Kids Against Drugs Campaign For Drug-Free Families. He is the author of the Kids Against Drugs Family Action Training Plan Home Workshop. Using it shows parents how to empower their kids to be Kids Against Drugs. You can subscribe for his free e-zine at his web site http://www.kidsagainstdrugs.com. Or mail to Click Here.