Youth Probation/City of Calgary Calgary Board of Education Mennonite Central Committee John Howard Society Calgary Family Services Calgary Police Service

TEN FEET TALL AND BULLETPROOF
I made a big mistake. It's a good thing if you can learn from your mistakes. If others can also learn from my mistakes, all the better. Here is my story in a nutshell. May of 2001 was the beginning of a very tough two years of my life. It all started with being kicked out of school for skipping out. I was bored with school, and friends and hanging out were more important to me than my education, at the time. I had just started a new full time job and was not interested in going back to school. An old school friend of mine had just gotten out of jail and we got together. We went over to a friend's house and started drinking. Then we left to go down to Lloyd's Rollercade to meet with some friends, but we missed the bus. We proceeded to walk there and stumbled upon an opened car with its keys inside. Next thing I knew, my friend was telling me to get in the car. I was drunk, and knew that it was wrong to do, but I got in anyway. I was scared. This was the beginning of an experience that changed my life forever. During the next four days, we did nothing but smoke pot, drink booze, party and drive around.	I don't know exactly how it came about, but before I knew it, we had committed three robberies. I was scared, nervous and really did not want to be part of the first one. But when it came time for the second robbery, it did not seem as shocking to me. By the third one, it did not seem to be as big of a thing as it really was. I felt more courageous and assumed a more active role this time. But the truth was, I was drunk, stoned and felt 10 feet tall and bullet proof. I had a rude awakening by police officers and the hotel manager, storming into our room. Right there on the spot, I was arrested, taken downtown, interrogated and charged with numerous offences ranging from auto theft to armed robbery. There I was, sitting in the holding cells for 6 hours, thinking, "How could this have happened? I just went out to meet a buddy and have a little fun." It has been almost two years now, since this incident and the impacts of my actions are on going. The effects are more widespread than I ever could have imagined. Not only did this affect my life, but also my family, my friends, and most regrettably, the victims.	Through this experience, I have learned that drugs and alcohol can completely alter your personality and influence you to do things that you would not normally even think of doing. We are naïve when we are young and believe that these kinds of things only happen to other people. But they can happen to anyone, especially if they get caught up with the wrong people. I now realize that parents really do know what they are talking about and are not just trying to make your life miserable by preaching. They have been there too. Take a look at the people you hang out with and ask yourself, "Is that what you want to become? Is that the direction you want to go in?" Be your own person, and make your own life what you want it to be. Because you become part of what you do and whom you are around. You need to have the confidence in yourself to make positive choices. Looking back now, there are so many different choices I could have made at the time. Just a split second decision escalated into a regrettable, unforeseen chain of events that affected my life, and many others, forever.

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