So, tonight, I went out to pick up pizza for dinner, and before I went home, I stopped at the gas station, where I saw two plain-clothes detectives shaking down three fratty looking boys, who I assume were students at Vanderbilt. Given that I was basically at the edge of the campus, I think it was a fair assumption:
Anyway, at first I thought these kids shoplifted beer from the store, but then I watched one of the detectives take one of their backpacks and whip out Skyy Vodka, Captain Morgan and some other bottle of unidentifiable hooch.
It was then I realized these guys were getting busted for underage possession.
None of them looked scared or upset. Score one for them.
Personally, I think that here in the US of A, we're well behind the curve on that particular cultural norm.
Let's be honest with ourselves. Teenagers drink. When I was in high school, I had a beer at a party once. It was to look cool in front of an ex-boyfriend who was giving me the stink eye for being there. Long story. Suffice it to say, I waited an hour, sobered up, and went to a different party where nobody drank and everybody loved me. I showed him!
Now, that's not to say that's the only time I drank in High School. The remaining times were with my family, at home or on vacation. My parents didn't shroud drinking in a cloak of mystery.
So by the time I left for college, the idea of going out to get plastered never really appealed to me.
But I knew several people who had been saintly until they got to college. One entered rehab before her 21st birthday.
Here's my take. At eighteen you can marry, vote, get a job, pay taxes, serve for your country, get a tattoo...
But you can't have a beer for another three years.
So instead, you're forced to carry a backpack full of liquor around and get the shake down from two nerdy looking dudes in Members Only windbreakers.
That seems Un-American.
Just saying.
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| Like this, only younger. And one more of them. |
It was then I realized these guys were getting busted for underage possession.
None of them looked scared or upset. Score one for them.
Personally, I think that here in the US of A, we're well behind the curve on that particular cultural norm.
Let's be honest with ourselves. Teenagers drink. When I was in high school, I had a beer at a party once. It was to look cool in front of an ex-boyfriend who was giving me the stink eye for being there. Long story. Suffice it to say, I waited an hour, sobered up, and went to a different party where nobody drank and everybody loved me. I showed him!
Now, that's not to say that's the only time I drank in High School. The remaining times were with my family, at home or on vacation. My parents didn't shroud drinking in a cloak of mystery.
So by the time I left for college, the idea of going out to get plastered never really appealed to me.
But I knew several people who had been saintly until they got to college. One entered rehab before her 21st birthday.
Here's my take. At eighteen you can marry, vote, get a job, pay taxes, serve for your country, get a tattoo...
But you can't have a beer for another three years.
So instead, you're forced to carry a backpack full of liquor around and get the shake down from two nerdy looking dudes in Members Only windbreakers.
That seems Un-American.
Just saying.
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