The wasted years

I raged last week on the night of my 21st birthday.

I didn’t do anything ridiculous, but after talking to a friend who’s a bartender, I realized that the eight or so drinks I had in the span of less than two hours really added up to about 12 or 13. I had a rough, vomit-filled morning. It wasn’t fun.

It makes me wonder how some people do this on a weekly basis.

Certainly, 21st birthdays merit celebration. I had my fun, and I’m not condemning anyone who wants to go out and get slizzered (so to speak) for the occasion.

I’m questioning the people who party Wednesday through Saturday every week and wake up each day with a hangover.

I’m questioning the people who attend every tailgate and drink until they black out.

Mainly, though, I’m questioning those who can’t separate their drinking experiences from their college experiences.

Don’t get me wrong — I love getting my drank on (again, so to speak). But I’ve noticed lately that we, the youth of society, have started to glorify not the drunken experience, but rather the wasted experience. There’s a key difference. Drunkenness is a proud and silly human tradition that spans thousands of years; wastedness is not.

The perplexing thing about wastedness is that, pervasive as it may be, no one seems to enjoy it. It’s not fun for the people taking care of the drunk person, and it seems to be a serial destroyer of friendships and relationships. On top of that, the morning after almost inevitably brings both embarrassed revelations about the previous night and a wicked hangover.

Moreover, I’m convinced that wastedness occurs almost always by choice. No matter how much you deny it later, you know when one more drink will take you to a bad place.

So, in the face of all its drawbacks, why do we get wasted?

For some, being sloshed is a welcome respite from the stresses of student life. For others, it comes from a need for self-expression.

As the old adage says, “a drunken mouth is a sober heart.” In other words, people’s desires and impulses come out when they’re wasted. If anything goes wrong, there’s a ready excuse on hand: “I don’t know, I was really drunk.” This explanation is a popular one for both the wasted and the attention-seeking fake-wasted.

If alcohol is the only resource we feel comfortable using to deal with these harsh realities, we all need to take a serious look at the way we’re living.

College is certainly a place to revel in the drunken irresponsibility of youth, but next time you feel the urge to get wasted, ask yourself why. Do the pros really outweigh all the cons?  

Or will you just remember college as one big wasted time?

­— kelfritz@indiana.edu