Why I Don't Drink
Jeff Davis | Vent Section Manager
I’m a pretty nice guy. Ask anyone who lives on the second floor of Floyd and that person will tell you that my door is always open and I smile at everyone who walks by. I’m open. I speak my mind. Now, it’s time for me to scream it.
I hate alcohol. There, I said it. That felt really, really good.
Now, to complete the screaming of my mind, I will justify my statement. I hate alcohol because it’s what people use when their minds are too dull to produce any other solution to boredom. Granted, if you are responsible enough to drink in moderation and space your drinks to allow your body to oxidize the alcohol then you can handle it, people use alcohol in a casual setting. I live in a house with a very eclectic liquor cabinet. I don’t go near there very often. When responsible, “of-age” people consume it in a shoot-the-breeze atmosphere I’m fine.
I don’t like the effects alcohol has on people. I used to laugh at drunk people “back in the day” but now I only frown. I realized just how powerful alcohol was when one of my mother’s best friends was hit head-on by a drunk driver. The offender (and consequently the now-dead man) was driving over 90 miles an hour in the left lane of Route 11. He completely demolished her full-size GMC conversion van. Her husband had to retire from teaching at the local high school because of his injuries, my mother’s friend went through months of recovery, and as far as I know, the other passenger who was in the van is still suffering from that event that happened years ago.
There was a really sweet girl who went to my high school. I never knew her, thanks to alcohol. If you look hard enough at the tree, you can still see where the car rammed into it.
Why is alcohol so widely accepted? I was talking to a friend about this last night. One of his friends was drunk and I was worried about him. I’m a nice guy, remember? My friend said to me, “I don’t know why we do it. To be dumb, I guess.” Dumb, for me, is too soft a word. How about mindless?
Around September, I agreed to “go out” with my roommate and some of his pals. My roommate, bless his heart, was completely cool with my decision not to drink. He and I were in his friend’s room, and my roommate told him that I was not going to drink. The guy had the nerve to say, “Oh, yes he is.” Perturbed as I was, I went downstairs to where some of the other people in our group were waiting. They informed me that since I was not going to drink, I had to pay to get into this party and that party. I left and watched TV that night. It’s really comforting to know that obeying the law, among other things, is considered “uncool” among a lot of my peers.
I am glad that overall people respect me for who I am. After all, I am a real nice guy. My door is the only one that is open on Saturday night.
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Name:Leigh Ann Norman Comments:
Awesome. It is great to see young people choosing to live their live the right way. Congratulations on having the strength to stand up and be heard. Good Luck in all you ever attempt to do.
Name: The Subterranean Comments:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA::points his finger and laughs::HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAH::falls out of his chair laughing::HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA
Name: jeff Comments:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA...yeah right, Britney Spears on this feedback form....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA...calling us dorks when she makes that crap she calls music...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA...anyone feeling like laughing his/her ass off with me? Thought so! >intense laughter ensues and teenybopper who can't write her own music is put in her place<
Comments:
Alcohol doesn't kill people...stupidity kills people
Name: SnotPhan Comments:
well the name of the section certainly lives up to its name...
Name: jeff (the author) Comments:
Hello Miguel. Thanks for missing the entire point of my article. I don't need to be told how nice I am. I KNOW how nice I am. And yes, people do tell me how nice I am. If anyone knows that this world is a rainbow of sorrow, pain, happiness and pure confusion it is ME. Immature? I would really like to know where you get that. If you want to see self-serving, please go to my article on how girls spurn guys like me. Of all the people who say they are responsible drinkers and are under the age of 21, nearly all of them go overboard at least once. In the weirdest way I respect that decision. It makes me worry about some of my peers when all they do is drink. Won't their grades suffer? What about their extracurricular commitments? If I am so worried about the welfare of my generation, I ask you: How IMMATURE AM I?? I know a responsible drinker who was recently ticketed for underage possession while still under the black cloud of a pending court date for the same charge. If that responsible drinker was just a bit more responsible, he wouldn't have to fork over hundreds of dollars for being seen with a can of beer. Without a doubt one of the latent functions of college life is to meet new people and have a blast while doing it, but why should people break the law in the process? When parties are busted for noise violations, etc., underage kids come out and they get arrested because they can't walk straight. How much more probable cause does a cop need? If the people who host these parties are so responsible, then why do they allow underage kids to drink? That is ILLEGAL! How responsible is that? For me, this paints a very bad picture of, among other groups, the honorable Greek traditions that allow students to create deep bonds among each other. And, honestly, if you can discern that I am immature from just one article that I have written, then, gosh, you are a wiser man than I. I always thought that reality was beyond the words, but if you say so...Otherwise, thank you for reading the article. It's good to know that they at least charge for the alcohol. All my closest pals who are on that scene tell me the beer and such is always free. Keep reading.
Name: miguel Comments:
Years ago I shared your opinion on the world. I would climb on my soap box and throw around self serving jargon not unlike this article. If this makes you feel good, I am happy for you. Unfortunatly I have to believe that you are as young and inmature as the assholes that have hassled you. If you need to be told how nice you are, go home and see your mom. I am sure she will tell you how great you are. The world is not black and white and this will become more obvious as you grow older.
I am not a party guy and I don't mean to defend them in any way but It costs money to have a sucessful party. The organiztions that hosts these events try to pay for the event by making profit on the alcohol sold at the event. If you don't buy alcohol but still attend the party, you are freeloading. This is why you are asked to pay a cover. This is a practice that is also accepted in the bar world. I respect your choice not to drink but you shouldn't use it as a resume item when trying to convince others how nice you are.
Comments:
Hey Jeff....I'm not sure that anyone can completly justify underage drinking, but I can tell you why I drink, whether it is right or not. On average I'd say I party/drink four nights a week. I don't drink to escape my problems, because they'll always be there, and I don't drink to be 'cool', I drink because I like to. I like to come home from class on a Thursday and have a beer while I check my e-mail, watch TV and cook dinner. It's relaxing and it tastes good. Granted I don't come home and bong 5 beers, I said A beer. And when I do go out I don't have to get drunk. For the most part I don't like to get drunk. I don't like acting stupid and having to find out the next day what happened. But that doesn't mean I don't like drink, I just have to know my limits.
I like to drink socially. It's fun to go out with the girls, have a couple beers and dance our little hearts out. Just as it is fun when we choose to stay in and rent a movie.
I think for most college students, drinking is a phase. You're finally on your own, away from your parents, and hell, if the government can send you to die in a war, why can't you crack a cold one? The problem is the students who don't drink responsibly and give the rest of us a bad name. Most students don't know thier limits and it's unfortunate they learn them at parties when they probably won't remember what happened the next day. To those students I give the sage advice that was given to me: sit down one night with close friends you trust and a couple cases and learn your limits. Stop making a fool out of yourselves and grow up.
Anyone who cares if you drink or not, Jeff, is obviously a dumbass. That is petty and stupid and ten bucks says they were probably a freshman (no offense to you nice freshman out there...). For someone to be that closeminded obviously doesn't say much about them.
The reason you would have had to pay at a party, even though you wern't drinking, isn't because no one respects that you don't drink, it's because you're a guy. That's the bottom line. Just about any girl can talk her way into a party for free if she's not drinking, but for guys, you're SOL. I hate to be sexist, but that's the way it works.
I hope you don't dislike all of us underage drinkers because we're not all binge drinking idiots. Maybe I'll stop by one Saturday.
Name:Bad Influence Brian Year: sr. Comments:
Yea, we've seen "the subterranean" all smashed up at New Years! hehehe. :)~
Name:The Subterrean Year: Senior Major: English Comments:
Jeff, man, let me tell you this...you don't know how right you are on alcohol not being a cool way to forget your problems. They're still there when you sober up (and you have a nasty ass hangover to deal with too) but sometimes it can make them even worse. Trust me.
Name: jeff (the author) Comments:
LOL! :-) I have had similar experiences with people who live on my hall. Once this guy came into my room while I was on my bed reading, and I could tell that he was drunk, but it was the disoriented, less-harmful-to-others kind of drunk, a bit like when someone has a fever, so I just watched him, morbidly curious. He was looking for his girlfriend. He actually walked to where I was laying, looked under my bed, and moaned, "Are you under there baby?" Now, after seeing the last story I ran as a lead, let's not similarly turn this feedback section into a "describe your weirdest encounter with a drunk person." I would really like someone to justify all this drinking. Kim, best of luck to you and your future husband.
Name:Kim Year: senior Major: German and History Comments:
I have so much respect for you Jeff! Your decision not to drink is awesome. I'm happy to say that I've chosen the same thing. I don't like alcohol. I hate beer. If I were to drink something (which is very rare), it would be a sloe gin fizz (what Jenn wrote about in the drink of the week section- she got the idea from me!) and I always ask the bartender or my fiance to put as little alcohol in the drink as possible. Drinking is, to me, very immature. Especially when the drinkers are not responsible. I hate waking up at night hearing idiots in my parking lot yelling and screaming thinking they're funny. It is scary to think that these people may end up killing my dogs or even later someone in my family because of their irresponsibility.
Name: jeff (the author) Comments:
Something else I should mention. I don't like it when people use drinking as a way to get away from problems. When that hangover is there, so are the problems, and you have a new one to boot. I would appreciate it if someone would post a message in this forum that would reasonably justify all of the underage drinking in this nation.
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