Give me a beer or give me death.

As a 20 year old, one month away from turning that magical blackjack number of 21, I am trying to figure out what is going to make me more responsible and mature in the next month to consume an alcoholic beverage. I am 7,635 days young as of Sunday. In a month, I will be 7,665 days old. I feel like I have a lot of growing up to do in the next 30 days in order to drink my “first” beer. (Major SARCASM!)

As an American, from a well off family, pursuing a great college education. I can honestly say I feel beyond blessed as a human being. I have more freedoms than the majority of the world can dream of. This being said, the idea of me having to be 21 years-old to be considered responsible enough to drink alcohol is absolutely absurd considering the many privileges I was given at a much younger age.

Here are a few of these privilege:

At age 16, I was given the ability to operate a motorized vehicle.

At age 18, I was given title of an adult.

At age 18, I was able to consume tobacco products that have proven to be deadly and extremely unhealthy.

At age 18, I was now old enough to face legal consequences and be admitted into the adult prison system.

At age 18, I was given the privilege and duty to serve in the United States Armed Forces to protect our county and its many freedoms.

At age 18, I was given the right to waste my money on lottery tickets.

At age 18, I was given the ability to take a personal loan out to further my educational goals.

At age 18, I was given the right and freedom to elect the leaders of our city, state, and country.

This is a load of responsibilities that at the age of 16 and 18 years-old. Most notably, the ability to elect our government officials and serve our country in the military.

But yet, I am not yet responsible enough to drink a beer.

An 18-year-old kid has yet to really experience the world individually or without the supervision of their parents. How could they be responsible enough to fulfill some of these roles?

So yeah, maybe I was given too many rights and privileges at too young of an age. I do not disagree with that statement. What I do disagree with is, that the American government could so possibly think that I was able to handle these daunting rights with responsibility and maturity, but I cannot handle drinking alcohol safely and responsibly.

I still believe that America’s best and brightest are on the college campuses around the country. It is inevitable that these kids will drink alcohol illegally and underage during there first couple of years at college. This brings up two major problems. One, these kids, who are on there own for the first time in their life, have never had the opportunity to learn and practice drinking responsibility under the supervision of their parents. This has lead to many underage kids engage in binge drinking because of this lack of experience. Two, for when these underage kids that end up drinking illegally, they are inevitably going to get caught or in some sort of trouble. This could ruin future career plans because they were engaging in something that society says is totally okay and acceptable, but the government does not.

It is easy for the older adults out there to simply say, “ just don’t drink until you are 21.” This is coming from the generation that had drinking ages at age 18, and the same generation that if they got caught drinking underage, they were taken home to their parents instead of thrown in prison.

To conclude this soapbox, I just want to say that I actually have no issue with the drinking age being 21 years of age. My problem is that we are given so many rights and responsibilities at ages 16 and 18, many of these privileges having much more complexity and impact on society than consuming alcohol. We are given these rights and the title of “adults” to make us believe we are equal acting parts of society, except for one facet, drinking a beer.

So I will go back to my original statement, “Give me a beer or give me death.”