Just Say No

Weekends at Jesse Hall are full of alcohol. Weekends at UM in general are full of alcohol. Riding the elevator I inevitably meet a group of girls giggling who smell so strongly of alcohol that even their copious amounts of perfume can’t even mask it. The Sunday morning the elevators and parking lots are littered with Bud light cans and Michelob cardboard boxes. Drinking is such a large part of the social scene at UM that I sometimes wonder why I have made the decision not to drink.

My reasons for not drinking have changed since high school. I played volleyball and ran track during high school and didn’t want to hurt my performance with alcohol. Besides, nothing make me more angry than losing a teammate because she got an MIP, and I didn’t want to be that person. If a person wants to screw themselves up that’s fine, but the minute it affects my performance and my success it’s not ok.

I also wanted to be a good role-model for my younger sister. I was the president of the Trading Card Program, a mentoring program to fourth-grade students about abstinence from drugs and alcohol, my junior and senior year. This program gave me time to talk to my sister and other kids in her grade about how they could still be cool and not use alcohol or drugs. (This was slightly ironic as most of the Trading Card members weren’t popular.)Trading Card also helped me stay away from drugs and alcohol because I had to sign a contract promising not use drugs or alcohol during the school year to be in the program. If I was caught using drugs or alcohol, I would have to explain to each fourth grader who had my card why I had made that decision and take back my card. During my years as President no one in the program had to do this, but it is quite a deterrent for most members.

Of course, the goody-two-shoe in me kept me from doing drinking because it was illegal; I didn’t want to end up in the Police Beat of the papers. I also knew that if I got in trouble with alcohol it would put my dad in a hard position as he was my high school principal. Everyone in Sidney would know that the Mr. Farr’s daughter had gotten an MIP before church on Sunday, and I couldn’t bear the shame that would cause my parents.

However, most of these reasons aren’t really relevant now that I am in college. I’m not playing collegiate sports and my little sister would never know if I went to a kegger. I still am a little wary of breaking the law, but that isn’t what’s keeping me back. The reason I still refuse to drink is that I don’t want to give in. During high school I had very few friends. In middle school I had a huge group of girlfriends, but when high school came and most of them started drinking, I found we didn’t have much in common anymore. When they talked about how trashed they were the night before, I didn’t have anything to add. Before I knew it I was spending every Saturday night watching “Nashville Star” with my parents. Even my best friend slowly quit hanging out with me, to the point where we didn’t say anything more than “hello” my junior year. Because I had decided not to drink in high school I lost most of my friends. If losing most of my friends wasn’t enough, these friends along and other kids started treating me like I wasn’t good enough because I didn’t party with them.

Whenever I was furious at once again being ditched my friends I would rant at my parents, defending my decision. I thought all my friend’s reasons for drinking were pathetic; while there isn’t much to do in Sidney, I didn’t drink for four years of high school and I didn’t die of boredom. I thought it was ridiculous that they started drinking just to get friends. At college, I often think how it easy it would be to just go with my friends when they go out drinking, but my pride stops me. I won’t drink to get friends, because that is the thing I hated the kids at my high school for doing. I would be giving in to everything I had fought against.

So until I’m 21, I’m going to try to keep my sober lifestyle. Hopefully there will be something good on late night television to fill my Friday nights.

P.S. That is my friend Jessica Young's trading card. I took the picture; isn't it cute?