Growing up in a Latino family, I was exposed to alcohol at a very young age. Once I reached my late years in high school, I would enjoy a glass of wine during dinner time with my family or I would sit down with my dad and drink a beer with him. Alcohol has been around me and it’s been part of my culture. So it came to me as a huge shock when I saw the way some of my friends acted around alcohol in parties.
Every single party that I have gone to, I have seen kids constantly drink to the point of throwing up and blacking out. They go crazy at the sight of alcohol and do not know how to act. So I was curious as to what they feel over this simple substance that I enjoy at home with my parents and I started asking questions.
That is when I began to notice differences between the way that I was raised and the way they were raised. Some of these kids were telling me that this was the first time they ever tasted alcohol. They were trying to drink as much as they can because they don’t know when the next time they’ll be able to drink was. Another one was telling me that their parents keep the alcohol behind locked cabinets.
They were telling me things that I could not comprehend. What was the point of doing that? By keeping alcohol locked away like that, they immediately start to put it up on some sort of pedestal. Alcohol becomes this type of forbidden fruit for them, so when they have access to it they need to have it.
The problems come when they do not know how or when to stop. Drinking is good fun and everything but everyone has a limit. Knowing that limit is very important. On top of having this “forbidden fruit” behind lock and key, the government also takes part in this.
Having the drinking age at 21 is doing more harm than good. According to data collected by WHO (World Health Organization), the United States of America has the highest fatality rate when it comes alcohol related incidents. European countries have the highest consumption rate of alcohol but they fall below us when it comes to alcohol-related deaths. The reason behind why the U.S. has lower alcohol consumption and a higher fatality rate is still unknown, but some theorize that the high legal age leads to destructive underage drinking habits.
The best thing that my parents did was expose me to alcohol at a young age because it desensitized me. It helped me a lot with my experiences with college because I do not really care for alcohol now and even when I do drink, I know my limit and when to stop.
I believe that this is something that more people should practice with their children. It’ll help with their reactions and actions around alcohol. I also believe that if we were to lower the drinking age, then it’ll help with this problem that we have. Lowering the drinking age will help with integrating alcohol into our society just like it has in multiple European countries.
Doing so will then teach our youth that alcohol is no big deal and how to act responsibly around it. In the end it all comes down to education. We need to educate better and get better educated ourselves.
