People On Dry Campuses Drink From Cups Too

One of the things that is most different from home is the connection between college life and alcohol. In my student union at home, there are three different bars, these are open from 10am until 1am. We have pintage at lunch. The entire university is surrounded by bars and clubs, every day I am handed flyers offering free entry and cheap drinks somewhere that night, I have a collection of them on my wall at home.

In Indiana, I live on a dry campus, and even if I didn't, only about a quarter of the student population could legally drink because the legal age is 21.

I go through mixed feelings about this, on one hand I sometimes feel that this could be a good thing.

I find people that cannot go without alcohol, people that rely on it, people who don't know how to have fun or function without it, people who think it's the only way to be cool, are pathetic. Even though this can apply to me sometimes; I will put up my hands and say there are some situations where I do not feel comfortable without alcohol, I do not know how to react, I want it because it lowers my inhibitions and gives me some kind of confidence. Is this a reflection on the society I grew up in, where the entire youth culture revolves around it? Is it a reflection on my childhood, my difficulty in showing affection, my self-conciousness, the issues I had "fitting in." I acknowledge this, I give it great thought and I work on it. I see people here having fun without alcohol, I respect anyone who chooses not to drink.

So how could this also be a bad thing?

Well I see the kids around me as kids, as babies. I think a lot of kids have been wrapped up way too long and have no idea how to even cope with the small stuff. Their lives have been sheltered and ordered so long, they don't know what to do when something falls even a tiny bit out of control. Alcohol makes you lose control, I lost control. I know how the bottom of the barrell can look, even if I've not been there myself, you can see it more and more the further down you drink. It puts things in perspective.

But why can't we just let kids be kids?

From this post I seem to be leaning more in support of a higher drinking age limit. I don't think this is my real opinion, but it sure seems logical....