(December 20, 2011) -- Growing up, New Year’s in my family was usually celebrated in an over-packed, dark and sweaty banquet hall with too many people crammed into each other, reeking of the smell of alcohol. I would spend the night watching what were supposed to be mature, responsible men and women lose all control of their actions which they’d merely remember as a blur the next morning. And hand in hand with this mayhem almost every time came an angry and upset spouse.

I’ll never forget this man during one of these infamous New Year’s celebrations who had chugged down scotch as if it were pink lemonade and was trampling over and bumping into everything in his path. As soon as his wife came to assist him his anger skyrocketed and he smacked this woman whom he supposedly loved and cared for. The drunken man’s friends and relatives had to literally drag him out of the hall, leaving his wife behind to sit and cry through the rest of the night.

As the holiday season approaches, a vibe gets set in people that before the new year starts they’re going to let loose one last time. There isn’t much wrong with wanting to set yourself free before really buckling down, but there’s a difference when the actions taken before lead to consequences that jeopardize one’s plans for later.

The majority of people sit down and plan out an ongoing list of resolutions that they believe will be accomplished over the next year. And then on New Year’s Eve, these people take part in activities that they normally wouldn’t do. Because of the occasion, they lose all sight of their morals and find any action as suitable for this one night. The issue, though, lies in the fact that these things get taken to an extreme level and result in great harm, mentally as well as physically.

One of the largest activities taken to an extreme is alcohol drinking. According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, almost half of all deaths on New Year’s occur due to alcohol impairment. It’s almost as if there is this mindset that because it’s the start of a new year and is such a jolly time nothing bad can happen.

Interestingly enough, Sudden Death Syndrome (SIDS) occurs the most on New Year’s Day out of all days of the year, according to research by David P. Phillips, a professor at the University of California, San Diego. Death due to SIDS spikes up to 33% more than on an average day, and although there is no proven reasoning behind it, alcohol is thought to be a contributing factor. Once a parent has become so drunk that they can’t care for themselves, how is it expected for them to properly care for a child? So they end up not realizing, for example, that they may be lying the child down to sleep on his or her stomach rather than back.

People don’t necessarily want to cause harm but these actions, like extreme drinking, that are thought to be all right for that night end up leaving people with their lives turned upside down rather than new and fresh. And it goes past the point that the people themselves get affected. In turn, their stupidity causes pain to those who just might happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Witnessing this stupidity first hand, I’ve grown to understand that one must truly be selfish to only consider his or her own enjoyment, which in this case isn’t even remembered later on. A night that was supposed to kick off the new year for this couple at the banquet hall became a ruined night of anger and tears. Really an ideal way to begin a whole new year, don’t you think?