This has been a topic on my mind since last October. Near the end of Haunt to be specific.
Met a guy who worked haunt with me who was into me but I was only mildly into him more as just kind of a distraction and really kind of enjoying the attention. Yeah. I completely KNEW he was trying to sleep with me. But that is completely beside the point. Long story short on that, I made it clear it was never happening, we became friends and occasionally talk. Well whilst he was courting me, he was telling me he was straight edge. And he got a bit preachy about it.
I KNOW alcohol is bad for me. I also know I have to drink in moderation given my family's history for addiction as well as a lot of other things family related. Not to mention I'm usually the designated driver. As such I've actually never been pissed drunk. However, I also realise that MY drinking is MY choice. I don't do it because I have to. Or because of an addiction. Or for social situations. (ok that last is a lie because sometimes I do.) I do it because I enjoy the taste of what I'm drinking. Because I want to.
Now, I have NOTHING against straight edge people. I fully respect a person's right to be straight edge or not. Technically in high school I was (mostly) straight edge. However, I had friends who did drugs. Never have I been pressured into drugs or alcohol. The whole peer pressure thing? Never had it for those. The most it was was "hey do you do *insert drug here*?" "no" "ok. want some?" "no" "ok well if you ever do let me know" "alright" *insert change of topic either by me or the person who brought it up. In that respect, I'm very lucky with the friends I've had. And that wasn't until my senior year of high school.
The thing that bothers me about SOME straight edge people is that they preach it. You all know what I'm talking about. "Oh my gosh, this is the best thing ever and you're screwed if you're not like me" That attitude. The same attitude that people who are heavily into their religion and think that their religion is the only "true" religion and that everyone else should believe EXACTLY as they do and if they don't they're condemned to an eternity of damnation and even if they convert, they're still doing it wrong because they didn't start out that way and they're not doing it EXACTLY as the person preaching it. And they feel they have to tell EVERYONE this opinion whether it is asked for or not. It is fine to think that way. However when you're shoving these kinds of opinions down everyone's throat, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG AND YOU ARE ACTING LIKE A TWAT.
Now, for those of you who are straight edge to the point of not cussing. You should probably not read this because I tend to like to use profanity. I feel it enhances my vocabulary. There are plenty of other words I COULD use, however to simplify things and not have someone tell me that they think I'm making up words or using one wrong(even though I don't do that...ok there was the one time but I had JUST learned the word and it was back in like 7th grade cut me some slack there). I don't like dealing with the fucking hassle. But again that is MY choice.
Being straight edge IS a choice. I am not. But I respect anyone who is. Just like I respect my vegan friends. For a while one of my best friends was Mormon (she still is but we are no longer friends for unrelated to this topic reasons) and was offended if I swore in front of her. She told me this so I made a very conscious effort NOT to do it. And apologised when it slipped out. If you've ever driven with me, she's the one who got me in the habit of flicking the roof of my car when I feel like flipping people off for being cunts. However she did it for people who drove with tail lights/head lights out. I modified it. Point is, if we're friends and something I do offends you (within reason because there are some things I have no control over like bone structure and there are other things that I won't do like take my piercings out just because they offend you for whatever reason unless you're paying me to do a job and then in the sense of employee-employer relations I'll respect it begrudgingly because my piercings are part of who I am) speak up and tell me. I won't be offended by it (I might do mock offense but I won't seriously be offended because that would be me being a total asshole for it) and we'll work out something that works for both of us. IE: offended by swearing I'll make up words that mean absolutely nothing other than something happened that I feel is warranted by swearing and am trying not to (or telling a story verbatim and am trying to cut that part out) and by something warranted I mean someone almost causing a car accident or slamming a finger/hand/limb in a door or a hammer hitting a finger/hand/limb or something like that where it is more a reaction than anything else. Vegan and offended that I like meat? Simple solution. Around you I won't. But in return, I get no lectures for continuing to eat meat when you aren't around. You know, fairly reasonable and logical things.
Anyway though, If I am hanging out with someone who doesn't drink I'll respect their decision and offer them a water or non alcoholic drink of their choice. They get offended by me drinking in front of them, I won't. I'll stick to non alcoholic. Because seriously, I DON'T drink that much.(Though this past week I felt like an alcoholic and I'm sure I looked like one huh Kerowynn?)
Choosing to be straight edge or not (and let's be real here, it IS a choice) is something that should be taken seriously. You need to sit down and think how it will impact your life and the people you care to keep in your life. How will it affect your professional life? How will it affect your personal relationships with your family? How will it affect significant others(if you date that is because I do realise some people DON'T and that is fine. If you don't have romantic attraction or any inclination towards it you are still perfectly "normal" and there is nothing wrong with you). Obviously if you are working a job that requires you to taste test alcohol then straight edge might not be the best idea because it will most likely result in you losing your employment (I could be wrong but...).
You can advocate it if you want. Don't force it down people's throats. Realise that not everyone can/will benefit from it. Everyone is different. That's what makes us great. I feel Steam Powered Giraffe does it right. They come right out and say "Hey we're straight edge and that works for us". Not only that, they support their fans on it too. (Well at least the ones that are straight edge, I haven't seen anything that would make me suspect that they wouldn't if someone wasn't but that doesn't necessarily mean they will or won't. However I'd like to believe that they would because they seem like the type of people to be like that). In their coming out and saying it though, they aren't hateful to people who aren't straight edge and they don't preach it.
Ok I think I've rambled enough. I just wanted to get this out of my head. Purposefully NOT tagging any of this under things it should be tagged under other than my own personal tags.
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