When I think of alcohol, I think of the hangovers in the morning, the puking, the deliriousness, and the constant fear of getting caught. Thus, I’ve never understood why so many kids at school love to “get wasted.” When I told one girl at school this, she said that I just “didn’t understand,” and that I’d have to drink before I would realize how fun it is. Needless to say, that girl only made me more confused; it seemed to me that I’d have to be drunk to understand that logic anyway.
Nevertheless, drinking seems to be a sort of badge of honor in high school. At school kids proudly recount how, for example, they sat around drinking at home and then hid the liquor in the washing machine before their parents came home. I even know a girl who displays a picture of her and her friends all holding a can of beer in her binder, along with all her other photos of cherished memories.
The worst part is that drinking is not just limited to a small group on campus; instead it’s the norm. This means that everyone from National Merit scholars to cheerleaders to debaters to jocks are boozing it up. I don’t think many parents realize this.
One does not have to look far to see how detrimental all this drinking can be. Like at any high school, rumors abound at mine; not surprisingly, most of the embarrassing and shocking stories that circulate have something to do with alcohol. It’s not uncommon to hear stories after homecoming, after prom, after summer vacation, after Cinco de Mayo –after pretty much any day of the year– about someone getting drunk and running down the streets naked, or throwing up all over their friend’s carpet.
For some reason, when most kids at my school think of alcohol, they think of the “good times.” What “good times”?
--- Kunal, Phoenix