We all see it, but how?

This week I would like to talk about the rhetoric of underage drinking. In college, it is no secret that it happens, probably more frequently than not, and being around it enough has given me a lot of time to see it. As someone who does not drink, I can say that my perspective and that of my friends is different. I’m not saying that I condemn people who do it or think any less of them. They can choose to do something, and I can choose not to, no bitterness involved. People often ask me why I don’t drink, and I would attribute that to the fact that I see it differently than a lot of people who do. I see it as illegal, unsafe, and a way to make oneself do stupid things when not kept under control. The fact that it is illegal for people under 21 is the main reason I don’t do it, even though people always say, “well, you won’t get caught unless you’re really bad. Everyone does it, so cops could practically arrest anyone on the streets and they won’t choose you.”

Though they do have a point about there probably being a large selection of people to stop for drinking, and the police do know that it is going on, I would not want to take the chance. I already feel like I am judged merely for being outside on a Friday night. At parties, a few guys have thought they could get away with being inappropriate and seemed mortified when I said, “I’m not drunk—at all.” Aside from its illegality, I see not drinking as a way to be safe, while my friends do not see that big of a risk because the masses engage in it, and State College is a pretty safe area.

However, there is a huge difference in how we both “see it for what it is.” The kairos of the judgment about drinking has a huge influence on how I see it versus my friends. They judge it during their experience, and I judge it during mine. Their timing happens to be when they are under its influence and mine happens to be when I am completely level-headed and around others who might be a little off balance. They think about how fun and carefree it is when they are in a midst of giggles, surrounded by all of their friends, making new friends, having guys compliment them, wearing outfits they thought about for a few days, out socializing, etc. I am thinking about it when they are giggling about things that are not even funny and have guys “complimenting” them only to try to take advantage of them half of the time because they too are not in the right state of mind. I also think about it when I am helping them walk home, get a phone call at 4 a.m. to help clean up someone’s mess, listen to obnoxious conversations when I am doing homework, and hear extremely dramatic stories about how little they remember. Again, I am not saying that I look down on people who drink. They have a good time that way, and I have a good time just dancing and not having to worry about being stopped.

Several people have told me they only started drinking in college, which I think is another instance that relates to kairos. The connotations that drinking takes on in college are different than those from before, and probably after, as demonstrated by parents who discourage it. How I see it is that the time and place where these thoughts occur has an impact on how people regard drinking. What do you think?