By Gage A. Lewis,
Turning 21 is one of those experiences that is supposed to be a big deal. At least that’s what I’m led to believe. It’s weird I’ve never gone with what society has told me I’m supposed to do. I never went to prom, I didn’t get a car that was truly mine till about six months ago. Technically, being Editor in Chief of this paper is my first real job. I’m not at any point gonna go out and get drunk this week. Even though May 18th was my 21st birthday. I’m not going to a strip club or a casino. I’m not going drinking with my best friend (because reasons). I’m gonna sit at home Moap and think about all the mistakes (they’re those reasons I was talking about) I’ve made in my short life.
So why is it important to celebrate being able to put chemicals into your body? Why is there this big deal made around putting depressants (alcohol) and psychoactive drugs (cannabis) into your system?
Part of why i’m not going to celebrate it is because very recently I went through a semi-public emotional breakdown. So the last thing I need is alcohol or pot. But i’m not the only person turning 21 this week. There are countless others who will probably do everything I’ve described.
Why?
What’s the point. Is it to have fun. To make yourself more interesting. To make others more interesting to you. Why do we attach so much to being able to sleep with someone we’ll never see again.
Lets be honest, people drink to get laid. While that may not be the case for everyone, it’s definitely part of it. You drink, meet another drunk, maybe you end the night in a sweaty disgusting embrace. With a degree of shame depending on which deity you pray to.
The next morning you wake up and maybe you go your separate ways or you find out that you really like that person. Or so i’ve been told. No real experience to draw from. But is that really worth all the hubbub and build up.
The reason this sticks out to me is that I have a younger brother. He is 15, he is a millennial in the strictest sense of the word. And as a 15 year old boy, two things seem to always be on his mind, Sex and drugs (duh!!!). He is more excited for me being able to drink legally then I am. Multiple times he has told me that i’m going on a tour of all the strip clubs in town and that he is going to buy me a lap dance.
Why is he so excited? Is it TV? does he think drinking and partying is just like How I Met your Mother? (his favorite TV show, he’s watched every episode multiple times). Does he think he’ll just become Barney Stinson (I had to look that up). Why is he so convinced that he’ll have this magical experience when he can drink. He’s been at family gatherings where half of everyone is drunk and it’s almost no different from when they aren’t.
So what is it?
Why do we need to drink?
Why don’t I want to?
Have we as culture convinced ourselves that the only way to have a great time is to not be ourselves. Just a couple months ago when I was preparing for a trip to New York. Everyday it seemed that me or one of the other people going on the trip would complain that I couldn’t drink yet. While the practical reason was that it limited where we could potentially go. I don’t think it would have changed the trip at all. We would have done the same things and gone the same places. We might have been a little more loose lipped and honest with each other but hey what are you gonna do.
I still don’t have an answer after all these words. Maybe someone reading can tell me why. Why do we need to drink? and why is it a subject of celebration? Is it a symbol of adulthood or maturity? that can’t be true since the male brain isn’t done developing till age 25. This means we are damaging our brains before they are even done growing. So again why is 21 such a big deal?