21

I turn 21 in about 6 hours, and like many (if not all) of you, I have been asked the textbook question for someone turning 21 in the United States, “What are you going to do for your birthday?” A simple question, when asked to a four-year-old. But once 21 rolls around, it’s is one of the world’s most loaded questions. I hate to disappoint but I’m not going to multiple bars tomorrow night. Or even one for that matter.

It’s not because I think drinking alcohol is wrong, although I am profoundly opposed to drinking to get drunk and under-age drinking. I do no think there is anything wrong, however, with someone who is 21 or older enjoying the occasional alcoholic beverage with a meal.

But I think it is extremely cliche and trivial to drink alcohol just because you can. I do not think that it is a valid reason to do so, for myself. If you have taken part in this “rite of passage” as someone who has turned 21, please do not feel that I am judging you. I can not, you are perfectly within your right, as someone who is of age, to drink alcohol.

But I do not think that because I will be allowed to drink, that I will. I want to have a reason, and “just because I can” does not cut it for me.

If I drink alcohol, I want to make sure that my decision is based on a real desire to do so, under responsible circumstances. I do not want to decide to drink out of boredom or under the pressure of my peers. If I drink it will be small, and probably not very exciting for anyone except myself. Therein lies the beauty of this wonderful milestone, my drinking alcohol, whenever I decide to do it, is not really about you. It’s about me, and my choice to do it, because I know that it’s the right time.

You can talk about how much fun your 21 run was, or what you can remember from it. If I drink or when I drink, you might not even hear about it. Maybe I’ll be at a family gathering and someone will offer me a beer with dinner, or maybe I’ll be in a restaurant in the south of France, eating bread and cheese, and decide that a glass of wine sounds lovely and ask the waiter what he recommends. (The latter-mentioned sounds, to me, the ideal circumstance to partake in drinking alcohol.)

Anyone who has offered to take me out for a drink, thank you, but no, I don't want to go out. Not because of the company, but because the thought of drinking does not interest me. Tomorrow, I’m going to get my license renewed in the morning, and go swing dancing later in the evening and enjoy my 21st birthday the way I want to. I will not be drinking alcohol.