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2004 "Teens Speak Out" Essay
Contest
First Place Winner
Daniel Shallcross, Age 17
McHenry East High School, McHenry, Illinois
Treating the other sex with special
consideration and high regard stems from choosing abstinence. An individual
who desires to stay abstinent is rewarded a hundred times over. It feels
good to not fret over sexually transmitted diseases and about taking care of
a child while still in high school. The media portrays sex as something
physical that lasts for a few seconds; however, my belief of sex involves
two people who give up their body and soul to one another for a lifetime.
While growing up, my parents always told me
about abstinence and waiting for marriage. When I attended high school and
health class I learned about "tools" that enabled people to live safe while
staying sexually active. I later realized that these "tools" didn't always
work. People still got diagnosed with diseases like AIDS and became pregnant
even if the right precautions were taken. The only disease-free and birth
control instrument that works one hundred percent of the time is the choice
of abstinence.
Abstinence can go much deeper than just a method
of birth control and by preventing certain diseases. A self-controlled and
mature human being decides not to take part in sex before marriage to
illustrate how much love he or she has for one other person on this earth.
It takes one moment to decide to engage in sexual intercourse, and it takes
countless years to choose the way of abstinence. This shows how much time
and effort took place for the other person who takes part in sex.
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