Le Provocateur

Issue date: 3/20/03 Section: Lead Stories

Smarz captivates the audience with his story

On March 11th, Assumption students gathered in the auditorium of La Maison to hear the testimony of a man who has seen things we pray we never see. He presented a story we hope never to call our own. And he gave us one thing we should all desire to have: the courage to admit when we have done wrong.

Jeffrey Smarz was a young New Hampshire man who faced several challenges in his life. Feelings of neglect stemmed from a strict family life in which, as he put it, "Men did not cry." These emotions lead to his desire to find satisfaction in himself through a new accomplice: alcohol.

It is a feeling many of us know as young adults. The knowledge that a few drinks will loosen us up, or perhaps make us more comfortable in a dorm room in which we have never been, has always been a reason many choose to justify drinking.

Smarz felt the same way. With alcohol, at seventeen, he could forget about the death of his father, as well as forget that he was somewhat shy and reserved. With alcohol, he was the life of the party.

In addition, he began taking drugs, such as Valium, to control his emotions and bring him down to a level where the emotions remain constant- the bottom, the end, the place where opportunity does not knock.

Smarz experienced frequent blackouts, which he described as your body shutting down from the over abundance of alcohol being consumed.

However, this was not a just a habit, or simply a phase Smarz was going through. He was caught in a never-ending cycle of blackouts, temporary sobriety, and then a second wave of blackouts. Afternoon, evening, and night. Yet, his alcoholism worsened, extending into the most dangerous avenues: drinking and driving.

When we think about such a routine task as driving a car, we tend not to see the dangers.

However, operating a vehicle under the influence changes everything. No longer is it simply a Buick, a Volkswagen, or a Suburban. You are now in a loaded gun, a minefield waiting to explode. Unfortunately, Smarz learned this in the worst of ways.

After years of operating motor vehicles under the influence of alcohol, he missed his turn one night coming home, the night after his mother begged him to stop driving drunk. He plowed into a tollbooth at 90 miles per hour, seconds after a young girl by the name of Eve dropped her 75-cent toll into the bucket. Eve was dead in less than four hours. Her head, so severely damaged, caused her to be unrecognizable to her family.

Continued...

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