A couple of weeks ago, I drove North of Santa Monica to the Valley for a concert at the Cobalt Café to see the band Casey Jones perform on their official final tour as a band. Their message as a band represents a very meaningful aspect of my life, and to have the chance to see them one last time was a good way to remind me of why I am proud to be “Stright Edge”.
“Straight Edge” is a term coined by the band Minor Threat, which brought about a movement in the 1980’s of an alcohol and recreational drug free culture. I was in High School when I first learned about the ideals of Straight Edge, which were heavily incorporated in the music scene that I had at the time just immersed myself in. When I learned about this entire network of people who had the same feelings as I about drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol, I was immediately attached.
At the time, many of my friends were beginning experiment with drugs and alcohol, which I quickly discovered I wanted to have nothing to do with. The ideas of an altered state of mind for enjoyment didn’t make sense, and it raised so many questions for me. What is wrong with the state of being which we are already a part of, and what is so dull about it? Why do you need to pretend to “not remember” last night but spend the next 15 minutes mapping your entire journey’s details to me? Why is it cool to tell your friends about how stupid you acted, and how many people you almost got into a fight with? Why would I want to chance getting into an accident and seriously hurting myself? Why would I want to chance seriously hurting someone ELSE? Why do I want waste half of my weekend laying in bed with a hangover because of an overdose of alcohol on a Friday night just to keep up with the bro-dudes who are going to be overweight with beer belly’s by their early 30s?
I will admit that I have had personal family experiences which have drastically helped shape my decisions to not drink, but I can’t help but point out that there is no possible way that it is as uncommon a motivation for others to make the same choices. Recreational drinking to an acceptable level is understandable, but for people to literally pass out or end up in the hospital because of what they are drinking is and will always be far beyond any plausible and reasonable explanation to me.
Cigarettes are an even easier activity to deny. Did anyone else learn in the 5th grade that Cigarettes cause cancer, and are a photo-finish away from being the worst thing that you can do to your body, only second to putting a gun to your face and pulling the trigger? I understand that our parents’ generation were not as knowledged on the affects, but there is absolutely no excuse for current generations. Why would anyone want to have the lung capacity of an 80 year old while in their 40s? Albeit most people don’t want to die at a young age, many are choosing to cut theirs short and can’t find the will power to change. It’s a tough addiction to overcome, and that I understand. But when it means early death in an already fragile existence, what valid excuse can trump? I attest that there is none.
College was easily the most disconcerting experiences with regards to drug and alcohol abuse which I have ever had the displeasure to experience. People I knew from High School had gone from excelling in their studies to failing out of the higher education system. It was literally scary to watch people throwing away their values for some cheap laughs and stories. An ex-girlfriend delighted in telling the story of how she flooded a hotel room during a semester abroad in France due to an alcoholic blackout, causing hundreds of dollars of damage (an event which I still award no brownie points for, but would be interested to know if others are able to grasp the comedic entity of it). Though the ‘peer pressure’ of college seemed to run most peoples’ self respect, morals, and history into the ground, I was able to escape it drug and alcohol free. Despite my choice, I, like everyone else, still found it to be one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. The only difference is that I and a handful of friends spent our time unconventionally sober. My senior year Spring Break actually consisted of a road trip with two of my best friends, Joe and Bob, to Virginia Beach to view a Casey Jones concert, where we were able to share a long weekend of singing and embracing of our long term friendship.
Growing up with a group of friends who believed in many of the same ideals as I surely made the avoidance of drugs and alcohol much easier, and I am thankful to say many of my friends still hold true to the foundations which we laid so long ago. My beautiful and loving girlfriend, Kate Surgen (who I not surprisingly met through many shared co-sober times in college) is one of those people who shares similar feelings as I do towards the negative aspects of these issues, and always supports my conscious decisions.
This does not mean that I do not advocate the bar and club scene, it just means that I think there are infinite other ways to meet new people and have conversations that are (in my opinion) more valuable. I will continue to go through my life in one unaltered consciousness, and will take that accomplishment with me to the grave.
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