THE STUDY OF LEROY’S PROBLEMS

THE STUDY OF LEROY’S PROBLEMS

HN144: Human Behavior and the Environment

Unit 9 Assignment

Kaplan University

“When it comes to LeRoy Karas, his story is very simple. He started off like any other teenager interested in sports in high school. He has an athletic build that was made for sports. Although at the age of 16 he started smoking and then at the age of 17 he started drinking. He did all of these activities secretly though because he was enrolled in sports. He even received a football scholarship to a college that he attended but instead of studying he thought partying was better instead of the learning aspect though. Which we all know is no good at all for athletes to do. His parents support and cherish him and the ground that he walks on. He also has a younger brother, Elroy Karas, who is not at all like LeRoy. Elroy is the exact opposite, very quiet and reserved about himself. Since LeRoy is more popular he doesn’t spend much time with his younger sibling because that wouldn’t be cool by his friends’ standards. After going to college for a while and only finding time to party instead of study, LeRoy’s grades diminish and he has dropped out of school and has to find a job in construction. Before the job in construction though he finds romance and love with a college sophomore, Rachel Rudow. Who he marries and they have three children together. However, because of his excessive drinking and smoking habits he is not at all a good husband. After seven years of marriage it ends in a divorce and with her moving to Florida to be with her parents for help with the children. He wouldn’t help Rachel out and be a good husband, instead he preferred to drink and smoke all the time. After Rachel left him his smoking and drinking increased even more. At the age of 39 he married Jane who was only 20 at the time. Together they had two children and were married for a brief six years. Jane left LeRoy because of his abuse while he was drinking. So after two failed marriages and five children from those marriages LeRoy is not in a very good place in his life right now. He is being hauled into court because he isn’t paying child support, because he is not working. He has no friends who want to drink with him anymore and his health isn’t very good because of the drinking and smoking for years, the doctors have told him to stop both. However, he chooses not to stop drinking and one night while drunk at the age of 64, he fell and got a fractured skull, with which he had to spend 3 1/2 years in the hospital because of the head injury. After the injury he isn’t able to walk anymore either. So he has to live in a nursing home, where he isn’t nice to the staff at all because he isn’t allowed to drink or smoke anymore, so he is a very ornery man because of what he has put himself through in his lifetime.” (Kirst-Ashman, K.K. and Zastrow, C.H., 2013)

With LeRoy’s behavior, he has pushed everyone who has ever cared about him away because he has chosen drinking and smoking over all. If he would have stopped his drinking, he could have saved either of his marriages. If he would have chosen to lead a healthier lifestyle and drank responsibly instead of becoming a full-fledged drunk, he could have had a better relationship with his brother and his wife. All that he really cares about or did care about was getting drunk.

If LeRoy would have taken the time to see that the answer wasn’t in the bottle, and he would have chosen to be a better husband and father, he would have seen all the he was and is going to miss out on. Not only because he was drunk and no one can stand to be around him in that condition, but also because all he was doing was harming those who cared most about him. If he had taken the time to sober up and clean up his act he may have had the chance to love something other than alcohol.

I would classify LeRoy as a deadbeat father. He makes the kids, but doesn’t take the responsibilities of taking care of them and loving them like a real man should do for his children. He was abusive to both of this wives and if given the chance probably would have been abusive to the children. I would say that if he would like to see his children in any context that the visitations would have to be supervised for the protection of the children’s safety. If he hurt one of the children instead of a nursing home, he would be in a jail cell. The guards surely aren’t as nice as the nurses are at the nursing home even if he is ornery to them.

If I were working with LeRoy it would be very hard not to be angry with him for his life choices that he has made, however I cannot make his decisions for him. I would simply tell him that he should have cleaned up his act at an earlier age than 64 and that he should be ashamed of himself for not taking better care of his children. Also that he should be upset with himself for not spending more time with his younger brother Elroy and getting to know his wife. Yes, it would probably make him jealous, however if he was more like Elroy he wouldn’t be in the situation that he put himself into. If he had taken time to realize that drinking isn’t everything that he made it out to be. I would also ask him if he would want to tell younger adults his story so that way they could see what not to do so that way they didn’t end up an old man who is alone and ornery because he can’t drink. I would also tell him that because he chose drinking over everything else that he has missed out on so many of lives joys and that he is going to miss out on so many more because of the poor choices that he has made. Some examples of these joys would be his children’s graduations, weddings, and birthdays. He will and has missed out on those because instead of choosing them he chose to drink instead.

Reference:

Kirst-Ashman, K. K. & Zastrow, C. H. Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment Brookes/Cole Empowerment Series 9th Edition. 2013, 2010. P. 613-617. (LeRoy Karas Story) Digital Book. Retrieved on March 8, 2016.