I posted this like everywhere, so might as well do it here too.
Everyone knows about the dangers of alcohol abuse, and the problems it causes for the country. But in addition to that, there also other deeper problems related to alcohol. Surprisingly, most of all these alcohol-related issues can be resolved with a simple solution. But before we talk about that, let’s understand a few things first.
Alcohol has been around since ancient times, and a majority of people will drink at some point in their lives. Millions of people drink regularly, and for different purposes. However, it is these different purposes for drinking that causes problems to arise. America has developed a binge drinking culture, which is extremely detrimental to the people and the country. We are not educated enough about alcohol. We don’t drink to appreciate alcohol; instead, we drink to get buzz or to get drunk. This results in bad habits developing and sticking, and eventually, passed down from generation to generation if not controlled.
Drinking is actually healthy when consumed in moderation, and many people can appreciate the tastes of refreshing beer, fine wine, or powerful spirits. Alcohol is not something to be feared. When used responsibly, it is a great compliment for meals, can help relax people, is a great social activity, etc. We shouldn’t drink to get drunk because that is not what alcohol is for. On top of that, it’s dangerous and the reason why most, if not all, alcohol-related problems arise.
Now if there are some of you that are saying to yourself, “What? Alcohol is healthy? This guy is crazy,” listen to this. The damage sustained when drinking in moderation is so minimal that it is negligible. In fact, it may even provide certain benefits, including reducing the risk of certain heart diseases. The world’s oldest people will probably tell you that the secret to their longevity is a little bit of alcohol each day. This may be related to how the alcohol keeps the blood vessels active and moving, allowing it to stay healthier longer. If you are still not convinced and/or you can pull a bunch of statistics that can prove me wrong, keep reading. Later, I will expose some myths. And if you’re not convinced my information comes from reliable sources, I will link my typed editorial with the bibliography.
So what’s the plan? How do we get people to stop abusing alcohol and begin to use it properly? First of all, we have to understand what causes them to develop the bad drinking habits in the first place. It actually all begins from school. We, as a nation, fail to realize that teens will drink no matter what, and instead of teaching responsible alcohol use, we teach abstinence. Teens will drink for a few reasons. For one, teenagers are naturally curious and experimental, so they will not only try new things, but they will also be attracted to taboo.
So now that we know that teens will drink and we’ve established the facts, we can break this down to two possibilities:
- If a teenager fails to abstain from alcohol and drinks discreetly, then he or she is in danger for obvious reasons. He or she is not being supervised, and breaking the law. And since the teenager did not drink under supervision, he or she will end up developing bad habits, which will probably stay with them their entire lives.
- If a teenager does abstain from alcohol, then by the time they are of legal drinking age, they will probably have left home already, without any experience with alcohol whatsoever. This means that the first time they drink, they are unsupervised and still don’t know how to deal with alcohol responsibly, which will also result in bad drinking habits. 21 is not a magic number that we hit and suddenly know how to handle alcohol responsibly.
As you can see, both possibilities make it almost inevitable that a teenager will have no way of being educated about alcohol. And here is where the plan comes in.
If parents can supervise teenagers as they drink at home, then we can educate teenagers about the proper way to handle alcohol and how to appreciate it. Wait wait wait. Did he just suggest that underage teens SHOULD be drinking? Yes I did, BUT, note the circumstances. I said that the parents would supervise the teens to make sure that they are developing healthy habits.
What does this accomplish? Teens will no longer be curious, they will be able to enjoy alcohol responsibly, and they will develop good habits which will stay with them their entire lives. And when they grow up, they won’t be absorbed in the unhealthy binge-drinking culture the nation is developing. Hopefully, when they have children, they will teach their kids the proper way to handle alcohol as well, thus ending the binge-drinking culture altogether. If we, as a nation, collaborate, we can almost completely eliminate drunk driving, alcohol abuse, and any other alcohol-related issues.
But wait, what about legal issues? Is this allowed? Technically, it is. Even though the legal age limit is 21, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act explicitly allowed kids to drink at home or in “private clubs or establishments.” I wouldn’t push the “private clubs or establishments” part but at home, sure.
Of course, if you can’t drink for medical or religious reasons, that’s totally different. By all means, abstain.
And the plan is as simple as that. By now I’m sure a lot of you have a bunch of counter arguments, so I will address some of them now.
Even though there are an overwhelming amount of statistics that claim underage drinking has many harmful effects, realize that most of the statistics are probably biased. For example, studies have shown that excessive amounts of alcohol before 21 will cause serious brain damage. However, these experiments refer to the effects of long-term usage with alcohol levels equivalent to that of an alcoholic, not moderate drinking. So obviously, you can’t use this as a counter argument for moderate drinking.
Most of the alcohol debate, however, stems from drunk driving. It was the main reason why they raised the drinking age to 21 in 1984. However, this did help the problem in any way. Many of the same studies that showed a decrease in alcohol-related accidents in teenagers 16 to 20 years old also showed an increase in alcohol-related accidents in adults 21 to 24 years old. Obviously, we are not solving the problem.
Some of you may contest that there is a statistic that states the earlier kids drink, the more likely they are to become alcoholics. However, this statistic does not take other factors into consideration. The experiment most likely refers to when kids are not supervised, and develop bad habits. However, if a child drinks at home under supervision of the parents, they will develop positive habits, which will be beneficial, and actually lower the chances of binge drinking.
It’s okay to get drunk once in a while, as long as one doesn’t lose sight of the things that matter. It’s only a problem when there is substance abuse involved.
So ultimately, it is all up to the parents to teach kids about the proper way to handle alcohol, and there’s no better way than to do it at home. Hopefully one day we may break the loop of ignorance and end the cycle of binge drinking for good.
For more statistics and cited references, here is a typed editorial and its bibliography.
Everyone knows about the dangers of alcohol abuse, and the problems it causes for the country. But in addition to that, there also other deeper problems related to alcohol. Surprisingly, most of all these alcohol-related issues can be resolved with a simple solution. But before we talk about that, let’s understand a few things first.
Alcohol has been around since ancient times, and a majority of people will drink at some point in their lives. Millions of people drink regularly, and for different purposes. However, it is these different purposes for drinking that causes problems to arise. America has developed a binge drinking culture, which is extremely detrimental to the people and the country. We are not educated enough about alcohol. We don’t drink to appreciate alcohol; instead, we drink to get buzz or to get drunk. This results in bad habits developing and sticking, and eventually, passed down from generation to generation if not controlled.
Drinking is actually healthy when consumed in moderation, and many people can appreciate the tastes of refreshing beer, fine wine, or powerful spirits. Alcohol is not something to be feared. When used responsibly, it is a great compliment for meals, can help relax people, is a great social activity, etc. We shouldn’t drink to get drunk because that is not what alcohol is for. On top of that, it’s dangerous and the reason why most, if not all, alcohol-related problems arise.
Now if there are some of you that are saying to yourself, “What? Alcohol is healthy? This guy is crazy,” listen to this. The damage sustained when drinking in moderation is so minimal that it is negligible. In fact, it may even provide certain benefits, including reducing the risk of certain heart diseases. The world’s oldest people will probably tell you that the secret to their longevity is a little bit of alcohol each day. This may be related to how the alcohol keeps the blood vessels active and moving, allowing it to stay healthier longer. If you are still not convinced and/or you can pull a bunch of statistics that can prove me wrong, keep reading. Later, I will expose some myths. And if you’re not convinced my information comes from reliable sources, I will link my typed editorial with the bibliography.
So what’s the plan? How do we get people to stop abusing alcohol and begin to use it properly? First of all, we have to understand what causes them to develop the bad drinking habits in the first place. It actually all begins from school. We, as a nation, fail to realize that teens will drink no matter what, and instead of teaching responsible alcohol use, we teach abstinence. Teens will drink for a few reasons. For one, teenagers are naturally curious and experimental, so they will not only try new things, but they will also be attracted to taboo.
So now that we know that teens will drink and we’ve established the facts, we can break this down to two possibilities:
- If a teenager fails to abstain from alcohol and drinks discreetly, then he or she is in danger for obvious reasons. He or she is not being supervised, and breaking the law. And since the teenager did not drink under supervision, he or she will end up developing bad habits, which will probably stay with them their entire lives.
- If a teenager does abstain from alcohol, then by the time they are of legal drinking age, they will probably have left home already, without any experience with alcohol whatsoever. This means that the first time they drink, they are unsupervised and still don’t know how to deal with alcohol responsibly, which will also result in bad drinking habits. 21 is not a magic number that we hit and suddenly know how to handle alcohol responsibly.
As you can see, both possibilities make it almost inevitable that a teenager will have no way of being educated about alcohol. And here is where the plan comes in.
If parents can supervise teenagers as they drink at home, then we can educate teenagers about the proper way to handle alcohol and how to appreciate it. Wait wait wait. Did he just suggest that underage teens SHOULD be drinking? Yes I did, BUT, note the circumstances. I said that the parents would supervise the teens to make sure that they are developing healthy habits.
What does this accomplish? Teens will no longer be curious, they will be able to enjoy alcohol responsibly, and they will develop good habits which will stay with them their entire lives. And when they grow up, they won’t be absorbed in the unhealthy binge-drinking culture the nation is developing. Hopefully, when they have children, they will teach their kids the proper way to handle alcohol as well, thus ending the binge-drinking culture altogether. If we, as a nation, collaborate, we can almost completely eliminate drunk driving, alcohol abuse, and any other alcohol-related issues.
But wait, what about legal issues? Is this allowed? Technically, it is. Even though the legal age limit is 21, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act explicitly allowed kids to drink at home or in “private clubs or establishments.” I wouldn’t push the “private clubs or establishments” part but at home, sure.
Of course, if you can’t drink for medical or religious reasons, that’s totally different. By all means, abstain.
And the plan is as simple as that. By now I’m sure a lot of you have a bunch of counter arguments, so I will address some of them now.
Even though there are an overwhelming amount of statistics that claim underage drinking has many harmful effects, realize that most of the statistics are probably biased. For example, studies have shown that excessive amounts of alcohol before 21 will cause serious brain damage. However, these experiments refer to the effects of long-term usage with alcohol levels equivalent to that of an alcoholic, not moderate drinking. So obviously, you can’t use this as a counter argument for moderate drinking.
Most of the alcohol debate, however, stems from drunk driving. It was the main reason why they raised the drinking age to 21 in 1984. However, this did help the problem in any way. Many of the same studies that showed a decrease in alcohol-related accidents in teenagers 16 to 20 years old also showed an increase in alcohol-related accidents in adults 21 to 24 years old. Obviously, we are not solving the problem.
Some of you may contest that there is a statistic that states the earlier kids drink, the more likely they are to become alcoholics. However, this statistic does not take other factors into consideration. The experiment most likely refers to when kids are not supervised, and develop bad habits. However, if a child drinks at home under supervision of the parents, they will develop positive habits, which will be beneficial, and actually lower the chances of binge drinking.
It’s okay to get drunk once in a while, as long as one doesn’t lose sight of the things that matter. It’s only a problem when there is substance abuse involved.
So ultimately, it is all up to the parents to teach kids about the proper way to handle alcohol, and there’s no better way than to do it at home. Hopefully one day we may break the loop of ignorance and end the cycle of binge drinking for good.
For more statistics and cited references, here is a typed editorial and its bibliography.
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