Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, and then give it back to me ’cause I paid for it.

Drinking is apparently essential for college life. Although alcohol is glamorized, no one ever talks about how damaging it is to your body. Okay that’s not true. Most of us by now have had at least one healthy lifestyle teacher lecturing the ramifications that alcohol can have on us if we consume any amount for a long period of time. But those “warnings” are out the window as soon as you’re in a social situation, down and out about whatever, and a free drink is facing you?tempting you.

A wise-beyond-his-years co-worker of mine brought up a debate about alcohol consumption the other day. While we were “working,” he told me that he believes that alcohol should straight up be illegal. He knows that it will never happen because of the whole black market issue, but he makes a good point that since our government is against people committing suicide, then they should be against people drinking liquor because alcohol slowly kills us. He is absolutely right in that drinking lots of drinks is like taking your time playing Russian Roulette, except we know that this gun has more than one bullet.

As my sweet and passionate co-worker went into sermon mode about the vices of our society, I stopped him before he bored me with statistics and the side effects of alcohol use. I’ve heard it all before and there was nothing he could tell me that would convince me on why I should reconsider my privilege and right to drink. That’s when he asked me why I drank and all my answers were pathetic, but they were the same ones that everyone uses…which makes it even more pathetic.

We all drink to either escape, celebrate, or socialize. And there are some of us who actually love the taste of “firewater,” but most of us just do it because we can. We don’t even think about it. Hey I’m 21, isn’t that what all “adults” do anyway?

Unfortunately yes. If you’re of legal drinking age then you’ll most likely feel the constant pressure to drink. Even if you’re a reserved individual, the chance is still there that you’ll someday get curious and drink anyway, unless you have a medical condition or strong religious convictions that will “save you.”

Most people, particularly young ones, think to themselves when they drink, “Hell I’m just drinking to have a good time, what’s the big deal?” The big deal is that most of you that are drinking in college aren’t responsible enough to do it in moderation. The let’s-get-drunk attitude seems to dominate most young college student’s plans for the weekend.

Let’s face it, drinking alcohol can have the same effects on your body as a one-night stand can. You feel great at first but after a little while (a few hours) you’re left feeling awful and empty. And no one can argue that whatever the problem you were trying to forget in the first place, will be magnified while you’re sobering up.

Anyone who has been drunk can verify that the sobering up process is always the worst part of drinking. As the room is spinning and your head has a brief conversation with a toilet, you’re forced to realize that you’re making yourself sick for what, a mere few hours of simulated bliss.

Before you drink again, think about why you’re knocking em’ down. You’ll most likely be unsatisfied with the answer. But if you don’t really care that you’re killing yourself, then you got issues. And whatever issues you may have, you’re not going to find any solutions or see the light at the end of a bottle.

And please, don’t drink to that.

Georgette Todd is a Journalism major and can be contacted by mail c/o The State Hornet, CSUS, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819 or by email at [email protected].