Let’s agree on one thing before I begin this article. Alcohol is a drug. So is caffeine, for that matter, and social acceptance doesn’t simply cancel out the fact that these are drugs.
That being said, I happen to thoroughly enjoy alcohol (and caffeine, but that is not the subject of this article).
A glass of wine or a G&T after a hard day can be just what I need, just like a game of Kings, followed by hilarious behavior after a stressful week of exams can be just what I need.
Except there’s a problem in language here: I don’t need a chilled glass of Chardonnay to relax. I just want it. In terms of needing it to relax, a nice cup of green tea can calm the senses just as well, as can several other things, like a nap or even a movie. ‘Need’ and ‘desire’ are quite different.
The reason I make this distinction and argument is that even though saying you ‘need’ to do something can seem relatively harmless, it can lead to endorsement of negative behavior and consequences. A friend once recounted a night of drinking to me, a night that became a night of vomiting, and of it they said “But I really needed that.”
I disagree.
No one needs to drink to the point where one’s body forcibly rids itself of the overwhelming amount of alcohol, and no one needs to vomit for psychological accomplishment. But “everybody needs one of those nights,” right?
Incorrect. Convincing yourself of that in retrospect to make yourself feel better may be all right, but be aware that it endorses those consequences for others.
Let me be clear, however, that I am not condemning drinking itself. Drinking, as a great deal of us agrees, is enjoyable. Is it enjoyable for the alcohol? No, usually it’s enjoyable for the social situations it provides. I’ve never had as much fun sitting around drinking alone as I have drinking with a group of my friends (don’t worry, I don’t often drink alone).
The gifts of Dionysus are not at all wasted upon this campus, and occasionally we overindulge, but focusing on the bad is what leads us away from acknowledging any of the good. There are a great many of us who know our limits and party responsibly, enjoying our time together, even if our actions during those times are technically illegal (which is another discussion altogether).
That’s what so few critics of the alcohol culture realize: for most of us, it’s more about the culture than the alcohol. To me, those who recognize that there is no need for it, but consume it responsibly and enjoy themselves are in no way in the wrong. After all, alcohol is one of the only things that all cultures share.
