I have never been to a college party. Not once. I have never had a sip of alcohol, and I’ve never smoked weed.
Before I continue, I want to make clear that I am not trying to make myself seem better or holier-than-thou. Instead, I ask for your respect.
I am not against risk-taking. In fact, I think it’s an essential part of our existence. Unnecessary risk-taking is where I become disinterested. I have never been intoxicated because I know it will not better me.
Since being in college, however, my abstinence from these substances has been met with so much disbelief, ridicule and comments like “well, we have to change that,” that I no longer like telling people this fact.
Peer pressure is rampant and it’s awful. I was lucky, and my friends in high school never pressured me to drink or do drugs. College is a different story. I am pressured regularly into going to parties or coming over to someone’s apartment so I can “just try it,” and it is infuriating.
Fellow students often tell me I need to try alcohol just so I know what it’s like. What a ridiculous statement. If we needed to try everything just to know what it’s like, the human race would have gone extinct long ago.
Others tell me I’ll “never be able to play a character who’s drunk or high if I’ve never experienced it myself.” Again, what beautifully flawed logic. Anthony Hopkins’s portrayal of “Hannibal Lecter” in The Silence of the Lambs is widely renowned for being one of the most realistic and creepiest portrayals of a character, and, to my knowledge, Mr. Hopkins is not and has never been a serial killer.
Shaming people for making safe choices needs to stop.
I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t walk around campus when it’s dark. I stay home instead of going out to parties, and I make sure I have a ride across campus, and that’s my business.
You can think I’m missing out all you want, but a hangover-free Sunday morning sounds pretty nice to me.
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