Happy 21st birthday! It’s a day that most, if not all young people eagerly anticipate. Plans are made to get drunk, enjoy the newfound adult right in the company of friends and try not to remember any of it the next day.
Celebrating one’s passage into full adulthood is great. At the Emerald, we’ve had five staff members turn 21 in the last month, and each of them has partaken of some tasty libation. One or two got fully ripped. Good for them, and good for everyone crossing the great divide.
The editorial board was horrified, however, to learn of the “21er” books recently seen on campus. These scrapbooks commemorate the big night with pages describing each drink consumed, where it was drunk and who purchased it, coupled with photos of the fun time. But the books count up to drink No. 21. Twenty-one drinks? This is ridiculous. Apparently, some people think it’s both fun and friendly to endanger a friend’s life and encourage grotesque immoderation. For shame.
Don’t get us wrong; drinking is fine. We’re no Oregon Commentator, but we can enjoy a swanky 40 oz. bottle of Olde English or a ghetto Jameson sour with fresh-squeezed lime juice. The point is, these scrapbooks endanger lives.
Consuming 21 drinks over the course of a few hours is not healthy. Vomiting, dehydration, organ damage and death are likely results. And here we thought the point of celebrating a 21st birthday was to have fun.
Older students who take their friends out on a 21st birthday should know better. Rites of passage are one thing. Getting nice and drunk will have the desired effect — nausea, vomiting, hangover. There’s no need to try to kill a friend in order to make him or her feel crappy in the morning.
So for everyone’s safety (not to mention legal liability), we hope that people will stop using books that encourage friends to consume 21 drinks in order to “prove” something about their adult status.
Your 21st birthday should be spent having fun with friends. You could even drink a lot. Your friends should be watching out for you. But if the people you’re with demand a drink count that reaches 21, they’re not your friends, and you probably won’t end up having fun.