"One more round of shots!" Announced a local college student to his friends at the bar, "and after that another one on me." Before they know it "up" is "down" and everything in between is a jumble of slurs, hiccups and giggle parties. “Just say no” is not in their vocabulary and “quit while your ahead” sounds just like a cliché phrase. It’s the proving ground for adulthood and they aren’t going to quit halfway through. They will show that they can keep up with the best of them or puke their guts out trying.
For clarity, this does not refer to all college students, but does depict many of them.
Case study: A group of student from a Christian College in America embarked on a semester abroad to Italy, home to wine and alleviated drinking laws. Some of these students, most of whom are under the age of 21, basked in the opportunity to drink alcohol in public without the supervision of parental authorities, while some choose to refrain based on personal conviction pertaining to alcohol.
It is not that hard to obtain alcohol in Italy due to the fact that it is a ready commodity and is present in any bar, restaurant, and side store. But despite its availability these college students did not see too many Italians walking the streets drunk or even becoming a little tipsy in a restaurant. It is very common, however, to find many American students in an inebriated condition while abroad.
These youths have been forbidden to consume alcoholic beverages their entire lives and then the society they are placed in hands them time, place, motive and means. Where Italian youths have been given these things their entire lives and have to a certain degree lessened the obsessive lust for it.
It is strangely ironic that a country that tried so desperately to stop the abuse of alcohol through the prohibition in the 1920's would be so well known for its abuse today. Conversely, that a country, Italy, that does not lay as much anticipation on obtaining alcohol would have such a limited issue with it.
In America a Bar is a place primarily to get drinks, meet cuties of the opposite sex, and possibly get smashed. In Italy a Bar is similar to a cafe, a place to get sandwiches, pasta, drinks (including alcohol), and sit and talk with all kinds of people around you. The same name, two completely different focuses.
Which focus is better? There is no perfect solution to the problem or answer to the question, however, perhaps those of us in America should question if our alcoholic focus is pointed in the right direction, or perhaps should we shift it slightly in the direction of Italy. As one Italian man said, “We drink to compliment the meal we eat, you drink simply to drink.”
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Truth Is Out There
The truth is out there, but where can we find it? In the news? In books, magazines, television? Many Christians would pipe up rather quickly and say that the truth is in the Bible, and they would be right. But should we stop there? We have accepted this ultimate truth; now let’s use it to find truth in our everyday encounters.
I have met many people throughout my life, some who think they have mastered truth, and some who have stopped looking for it. But truth is something to be sought for, it cannot be mastered and it must always be sought after. The truth is too big to understand completely, but it’s also too big to ignore altogether.
Who says that what we seek is truth though. Perhaps this is why many loose hope that there is truth in what they find, what else are they to think when disappointment meets them at the end of each journey. Just the other day I read four different newspaper articles from two different papers, the Washington Post and USA today, about the tension between the Obama administration and the Republican party due to feuding over the coveted airing date of both Obama's speech and the Republican debate. Both were scheduled for the same date and time and neither party was will to budge for the other.
However, it took me reading four different articles about the same topic to finally found out what was going on. One article said nothing about the Republican debate and focused entirely on Obama's jilted pride and frustrations, another article spoke about how ridiculous and underhanded the republicans were being toward their President and still another conveyed both sides of the plight but leaned further toward agreeing with the republicans than with Obama. By the time I was done reading I was more frustrated with the lack of truth in the articles than the article topic itself.
We receive enough lies and propaganda from the government and political parties; we certainly do not need to hear it from the news as well. Emily Dickenson hit the nail on the head when she said, "Truth is such a rare thing, it is a delighted to tell it." But let’s change this a little and delight in the truth because it is the truth, not simply because it is rare. Let’s be frivolous with truth and make deceit something that is rare.
I have met many people throughout my life, some who think they have mastered truth, and some who have stopped looking for it. But truth is something to be sought for, it cannot be mastered and it must always be sought after. The truth is too big to understand completely, but it’s also too big to ignore altogether.
Who says that what we seek is truth though. Perhaps this is why many loose hope that there is truth in what they find, what else are they to think when disappointment meets them at the end of each journey. Just the other day I read four different newspaper articles from two different papers, the Washington Post and USA today, about the tension between the Obama administration and the Republican party due to feuding over the coveted airing date of both Obama's speech and the Republican debate. Both were scheduled for the same date and time and neither party was will to budge for the other.
However, it took me reading four different articles about the same topic to finally found out what was going on. One article said nothing about the Republican debate and focused entirely on Obama's jilted pride and frustrations, another article spoke about how ridiculous and underhanded the republicans were being toward their President and still another conveyed both sides of the plight but leaned further toward agreeing with the republicans than with Obama. By the time I was done reading I was more frustrated with the lack of truth in the articles than the article topic itself.
We receive enough lies and propaganda from the government and political parties; we certainly do not need to hear it from the news as well. Emily Dickenson hit the nail on the head when she said, "Truth is such a rare thing, it is a delighted to tell it." But let’s change this a little and delight in the truth because it is the truth, not simply because it is rare. Let’s be frivolous with truth and make deceit something that is rare.
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