SADD and MADD: Youth-Led Initiatives Against Destructive Decisions

Both SADD and MADD have had various positive impacts to the society supportive implications to the well worth of the society in correspondence to the influence they have to our society. The Original meaning of SADD was “ Students Against Drunk Driving” but have changed to mean “Students Against Destructive Decisions”. Robert Anastas founded SADD in 1981 in company of other student in the wayland high school in Massachusetts. It started after two hockey players from Wayland high school were killed separately in the July of 1981.

These incidences led towards working together of Anastas and his fellow mates. The basic core of SADD was to provide an ultimate contract for human life. It was and is the only student national organization, which deals with impaired driving, violence emanating from drug use, underage drinking, impaired driving and a broad array of activities that affects the lives of teenagers. (http://chicagoathome. com/dct/54/id/3528/mid/2347/This-Year--S-A-D-D--Conference. aspx) The original goal of SADD was in helping the young people from drinking through saying “No” to driving while drunk.

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However, such former mission has seen an expansion to capture the expanding problems that seems to face the adolescence in the current times. This is what provided for the change in the name from the former meaning to what is held currently. With this mission, students have continued to communicate with the adults within their reach about the role and implication of positively attitude of peer pressure, use of role models as well as a binary of other substantial strategies that can help to say “No” towards any activity of driving while drunk.

This has seen SADD enjoy the sovereignty of being an organization modeled towards peer leadership. The basic ideology behind SADD is to prevent the effect of the idea behind underage drinking as well as drug abuse. It seeks to focus its attention towards modeling potential life that would not be threatened by the consequences of various destructive youth decisions. According to SADD, destructive decision include engaging in the domain of sexual activities that would lead to disease transmission, violence, smoking, failure of using safety belts as well as suicide commission.

Consequently, SADD has its basic mission of providing students with the most adequate preventive and intervention protocol that would perhaps encourage any activity of drunk driving, destructive decisions, drug abuse and underage drinking. Across the years since its conception, SADD has even incorporated various activities that help to spread its message to a broad domain of the societal population. They have used ‘pre-prom’ assemblies that have been held in various districts in helping to provide a better scope of awareness to the societal domain about the dangers allied to driving while drunk.

Across the years, SADD have invited people towards participating in various conferences that aim at working together in addressing the aspect of driving and drinking. It has in the recent years expanded its horizons to incorporate various virtuous topics that are not related to drinking. This includes eating disorders, teenage pregnancies, driving practices that are not safe and broad-spectrum of social issues affecting the teens. Their focus has been addressing the long and short-term implications of various destructive decisions taken by the youth.

Like SADD, MADD has its foundation of addressing various aspects on driving and drinking. MADD stands for “Mothers Against Drunk Driving”. The foundation of MADD was seen in 1980 by a group of women from California. This was after a driver hit a 13 year-old-girl before running away. The same driver had recently been out of the jail after being convicted of yet another crime of hitting accident. Historically, he had formerly committed other several accidents. However, since the 1980 this organization (MADD) has seen a massive expansion and growth.

To formalize its activities, MADD provided an official position of its president who is elected and remains in the office for a specific time period. (http://chicagoathome. com/dct/54/id/3528/mid/2347/This-Year--S-A-D-D--Conference. aspx) Currently, MADD is an organization operating at the grass root level and compounds around 600 chapters across the world. However, it does not deliver any campaign against alcoholism as thought by many people. However, it has its mission of stopping drunk driving, preventing underage drinking, and supporting the pertinent victims who commit the crime of drunk driving.

It has its focus on looking towards the most appropriate and effective solutions, which can be provided towards problems allied to underage drinking and drunk driving. Elsewhere, it has its motive towards providing support for those already salvaged by these crimes through giving moral support and counseling. (Sarah, 1995, 79) Considerably therefore, both the SADD and the MADD are social organizations that are aimed at improving and promoting the state of living held by young people.

At a closer range, SADD is a students organization with its benchmark towards helping students against the subjective influence of peer pressure influence. It has its motive of striking a balance between the proximities of education that is combined with a positive peer pressure influence. Through this motive, SADD mission believes that there will be an autonomous life saving. Like SADD, MADD has its mission statement rooted in the well being of the society through postulating an imaginary that promotes their livelihood.

It aims at improving and sustaining the status of their lives by addressing various problems that affect the social life phenomena of the youth. (Gerald, 1991, 92) Generally, both the SADD and MADD have almost the same operational framework in their regions of support. By and large, the two organizations have seen it worth of using social conferences that help to address the broad outlay social problems and crimes that affect the youth. Generally, use of conferences has been a motivating campaign that has seen the process of counseling produce adequate results and benefits.

Elsewhere, direct conduct of students with the other members of the society has been an adequate tool towards describing how they operate in the regions. Students and the youth in general elaborates and campaign to the society through oral persuasion to address the impacts and the consequences of different crimes to the other members of the society. Notedly also, a full pledge of campaign has been achieved through posters, signs, signals, artistic works and other stylistic devices. (http://chicagoathome. com/dct/54/id/3528/mid/2347/This-Year--S-A-D-D--Conference.aspx)

Generally, these organizations can highly be echoed of their response effectiveness towards meeting their goals. Since their primary mission has been to disseminate awareness on how the young people are to provide fruitful benefits. Many youths and students have incorporated the teachings of the organization giving them fruitful benefits towards avoiding the negative impacts of such crimes to their lives and the general society. Notedly, there has been a more conscious awareness across the board by students in knowing the relative impact of driving while drunk.

The social imaginary of the youth have also been positively modeled by the lessons learnt from their teachings. Work cited Gerald, D. Waging the Battle against Drunk Driving: Issues, Countermeasures, and Effectiveness. Mahwah, NJ, Praeger, 1991, pp. 92 Sarah, S. U. S. Women’s Interest Groups. Institutional Profiles. Greenwood Press, 1995, pp. 79 This Year SADD Conference. Retrieved on 8th May 2008 from http://chicagoathome. com/dct/54/id/3528/mid/2347/This-Year--S-A-D-D--Conference. aspx