Amanda Avoiding Alcohol

In his essay “In Quest of Beer,” Frank O’Connor describes the different ways that alcohol affects the people that he spends time with, and the cultural aspects of alcohol in Ireland. Never having been a drinker myself (the only alcohol I’ve ever ingested is from Eucharist at church), these themes are a bit difficult to comment on. I am known amongst my friends as one of the “clean” ones; no drinking, no smoking, no drugs of any kind (not even prescription or over-the-counter, if I can help it). My personal philosophy on alcohol is mostly simple: I don’t really mind anyone else drinking, so long as they aren’t hurting themselves or others, but I won’t drink for three reasons.

The first of these reasons is that I am underage. This is probably the reason that least affects me, but it is one of my reasons nevertheless. For me to obtain alcohol would be illegal, and though that doesn't matter quite as much to some people, I like to be able to say that I have a clean record. I really don’t have any particular need or desire to drink at this stage of my life, so waiting until I am of legal age to do so is something of little consequence that happens to coincide with my other reasons.

The second reason that I have not to drink is that I really have no desire to. I do not know how the alcohol would affect me, and don’t particularly want to take any chances. My mother tells me that after getting my wisdom teeth taken out and still being a bit loopy from the medicine, I informed her, “If this is how it would feel, I don’t ever want to drink! I have no idea what I’m doing!” I tell this story with humor, and the sentiment I gave my mother does not surprise my friends in the slightest. In truth, knowing how little control I had over my actions in such a state of altered awareness makes me uneasy, and willing to wait for the comfort and safety of a calm evening in with my close friends or family to start drinking.

My third, and perhaps most compelling, reason not to start drinking is that I have seen instances and heard tales of times where the bottle has gotten out of hand, and lives have been changed because of it. The amount of abuse of the substance in this country is astounding (and to be perfectly honest, scary), and the amount of friends I know who have either turned to alcohol or have had loved ones turn to alcohol for “self-medication” is even more astounding. A particular friend of mine from years ago, who shall remain nameless, got herself into trouble after she began to drink. She got herself into more than one serious jam with guys who were supposed to be her friends, and even showed up to school drunk and hung-over more than once. She started a downhill descent that chills my bones to this day, began self-inflicting behaviors, dropped out of school and, eventually, off the face of the earth. I have not heard from her since then, but remembrance of what she and others like her have been through is the most significant reason for me to avoid alcohol.

I do not want to sound pretentious, or like I’m feeding out a load of bull by writing about all of this (as I’m sure perhaps I might), but I do want to convey my own opinion. Despite all of what I have said above, I am not opposed to alcohol in general. Moderation and responsibility are both key. As long as the drinker is safe to themselves and to those around them, any of the arguments I could have against them are void. Eat, drink, and be merry by all means, just be safe.