U.S. drinking culture distorted

Being a Christian of legal drinking age brings up a number of moral questions within my groups of friends, some being Christian and others not.  In my opinion, the issue is more complex than simply to drink or not to drink, but more so why. 

In the Christian light, I view myself as liberal in comparison to my fellow Jesus-lovin’ cronies. 

For the record, I did drink before I was 21, following international law as far as drinking was concerned. In fact, I disagree with the current legal drinking age in the United States – the cliche comment does apply here: If we can fight and die for our country, should we not be able to enjoy a refreshing drink? 

Look at European culture concerning drinking. For the most part when you can walk, you can drink.  Wine is served with nearly every meal, and drinking in general is done in a casual light. Sadly, this mentality would never fare well in the United States.

Though there are others like myself who do enjoy the relaxation of wine or a good beer in the company of good friends, a majority seem to spend their weekends getting plastered every night. 

Now, I’m not here to judge or say drinking in excess is the most appalling thing there is. On the contrary, I would say that events like these are just part of living and learning about living. We are all trying to figure this weird thing called the “world” ourselves.

If we could adopt the same cultural outlook on alcohol and drinking that most European countries hold, then I do not think we would have the excessive problems with underage drinking that we have here.

The rebellious teen image will never go away and underage drinking will always occur regardless of the legal drinking age. But I argue that if we lower the legal drinking age to 18, then there is one less law to rebel against.

I know there will be some people out there who will argue its a slippery slope, using my idea in saying that the legal drinking age should go down to an age like 16. But under United States law, when a person turns 18, they are considered an adult and are assumed to take on more responsibility.

Unfortunately, there are a few instances when I have overloaded my system with alcohol and felt terrible about it later. I am smarter now and pride myself on knowing and following my limit.  No alternate realities for me, well until marriage or death that is.