As the doc said wheeling me into the operating room for a gall bladder ectomy, after I turned down the operation 4 years prior as they weren't SURE it was a gallstone which caused my pancreatitis, "That situation seems to have defined itself very well."

Consider the gallstone identified. Time to schedule the surgery.

And alcohol shouldn't be any more important in a person's life than strawberries, or green beans. If it is, ya gotta wonder.

Alcohol is more like strawberries than green beans, on account of their prevalent use as a source of pleasure. (Incidentally, some people are also deathly allergic to strawberries, not to mention the E. coli issue.) Some people advocate healthy activity as a better alternative to psychoactive substances. (Incidentally, some people get addicted to psychoactive substances their own brains produce and end up jogging themselves to a hospital bed over it.) Nobody is arguing that alcoholism is not a terrible burden. Sure, my parents served me underage, but I have also listened for years to their dire tales of relatives who succumbed, and their warnings about examining my habits for signs of addiction. Of course, fewer things made a deeper impression than Gramma's AA anniversary meetings.

I went to a pretty tough school. Our numbers on suicide are very low (I cannot actually recall one suicide death in my four years). Our underage drinking is astronomical. Other schools are unfortunate enough to see those positions reversed. I managed to end up with the active, inventive, paintball-playing, cliff-jumping nerds, and even they went to the Friday and Saturday parties to get blitzed out of their minds instead of engaging in the wholesome alternatives the administration exhorted us to take up. We don't even have a high incidence of "alcohol-related crimes" (including but not limited to rape, drunk driving, and being a loud jerk and puking everywhere...well, okay, maybe some of that last one). It was the way a lot of people dealt with the pressure. Healthy? Of course not. When was it you said that McDonald's was going to be outlawed?

And if it becomes a problem, then at least there is something to do about it. Didn't used to be.

What exactly is this "something" of yours? Other colleges have taken the position: "keep it calm and keep it in the dorms. We don't want to see kids passed out on the walkways." The public safety officers even walk through the dorm lounges to keep an eye out and make sure everyone is not dead. Sadly, mine took the position of "no drinking on campus ever, unless you're of age, in which case you may drink in your room with the door shut and no underage people present." Many schools encourage this out of liability fears, and it astonishes me, because establishing and encouraging a pattern of solitary, private, hidden drinking is the kind of thing best prevented. If our public safety officers catch you drinking underage, in any situation, they will arrest you and the school will take you to the judicial board. This is where that "people with serious alcohol problems" thing comes in: if you tell on your friend, he can get arrested and possibly expelled. The really neat thing about 18yo-20yo alcohol violations is that you're being charged as an adult, so it stays with you. Good work, your buddy is sure to turn his life around now, just like in an afterschool special. He only needed that extra little push.

I thought maybe you were referring to some kind of temperance society, but they have been around for a long time. I can't help but think that your "something" is the mindless law that makes this nonsense possible. I am damn tired of hearing tales about what a great job our public safety officers are doing by sitting outside of fraternity houses and demanding to breathalyze pedestrians who have recently left the premises.

If you are concerned about the possible alcoholics in this crowd, I will remind you that these are grown people (apparently responsible enough to live on their own), who will have to face their demons someday. Not everyone goes to the parties; I even had one friend who despised alcohol, but came to the parties anyway and had fun playing pool and drinking plain Coke. Either outlaw alcohol completely again, allow the 18-20 set to drink it free of legal penalties, or try raising the age of majority to 21. This conflict is foolish.

Beth

btw, as far as "learning to drink" goes...I did "learn to drink". I learned by example and edict from my parents when I was younger ("I had one glass. Half a glass is enough for you."), and when I left home and tested my limits, I learned how much made me really sick. Nothing like your body reacting violently against something to convince you to cut back.