The Greek community has a skewed perception on what's acceptable when drinking.
I know no one wants to hear about how drinking is bad and how people can’t control themselves.
Drinking will happen, and people won’t control themselves. Everyone knows it can be dangerous, but everyone also loves to have a good time on the weekend. All of this is fact. It doesn’t need to be any more clear, and I’m sure everyone would know what I’m talking about.
I wanted to write this article, though, to explain my opinion on the topic and why I have a problem with the way college students are drinking. I feel that the perception that our community has needs to change.
It’s not the fact that drinking occurs. That isn’t the problem at all. The problem is how college students have such a skewed perception of what’s O.K. and what isn’t, what’s normal and what’s not, and what actions are acceptable when people drink. This has become a part of the nature of the Greek community that we’re involved in. Making a fool of yourself every weekend is normal, waking up with someone you don’t know in a strange place is common, having an ambulance be called to take you to the hospital so you won’t die is acceptable. These things have become a sense of humor in our community that is incredibly wrong.
No, it’s not funny that you have to be taken care of all night. No, I’m not laughing as you are throwing up everywhere. And yes, the community as a whole will be extremely saddened by the fact that you couldn’t live to see another day, all because you had too much to drink. 1,825 college students between the age of 18 and 24 die from drinking too much every year. No matter the way it happened, these students have lost their life due to an alcohol-related cause.
I just think we should be more concerned when it comes to things like this. It’s so much more common than we think, and I believe we should take some more thought to this. I just hope it doesn’t take a lost life to make people realize how skewed the Greek life perception really is.
These things have become funny to our community, and I don’t understand why. I do realize that things happen every once in a while. Drinking too much can happen to anybody, and I accept the fact that it’s an accident. I know no one would ever intentionally want to threaten their life by drinking too much, it just happens sometimes. We’re young, and doing things like this is in our nature. We need to make the most of our experiences in college, but why do we want to do that by having a night that we don’t even remember? What’s the point of drinking so much that not only do you not remember 12 hours of your life, but someone has to watch you and make sure you don’t die in that time period.
I just have a problem with the students of our community thinking it’s O.K. to be that drunk. It’s not. It’s scary, dangerous, and inconvenient to everyone around you. Don’t get me wrong, because I love to go to parties and I truly believe I make the best of my weekends. I just don’t think it’s right for everyone to think that being sick, not being able to walk, not remembering anything, and having others take care of you is cool.
No matter how intoxicated you are, you should be able to at least take care of yourself. This perception in our community needs to change and I hope by writing this article I can help to spread the word. There’s so much more to Greek life than drinking. Think about the way you drink, and decide if it’s dangerous or not. If you think I’m crazy and that my point wrong, that’s fine, but I won’t be the one holding your hair back as you throw up next time. Reconsider your actions, and together, as a community, let's change our attitude.
