Binge Drinking Is Very Bad

Smoking has been very present in my life. It is a part of my culture, my family and, not to lie, myself.  Spain’s air has a scent of smoke. Both of my grandparents were avid smokers.  I first tried smoking when I was 14 and used it throughout the years as a “stress reliever” or “social” habit. Needless to say, I quit smoking about eight months ago. I quit smoking because aside from being another expenditure it was making me very weak. I was constantly tired and got very anxious. I started by reducing the amount of cigarettes and replacing my smoking cravings with gum. Overall, the constant reminders of why I decided to quit helped me with the process.

After reading the story about smoking, I wanted to write about the theme of the judgment involved in smoking cigarettes. I thought about other habits that are harmful but are not as judged in the American society. I am by no means defending the habit of smoking, but what I am saying is that just as much as we like to judge people who smoke, we should considered that maybe getting too “hammered” can also be a focus of judgment.

            I understand that feeling “out-of-control” and “loose” is great I think it is awesome. However, sometimes getting “out-of-control” is obnoxious and extremely dangerous. Elite Daily blogger Juliet Altmann states “it is not the alcohol itself that endangers people; rather, it is the behavior its consumption leads to”. That reckless behavior of binge drink affects our health and those around us just as much as smoking does.

Binge drinking among college students is almost like a ritual. Come Thursday, we are all ready for a “cold one” or in my case a bottle of wine. That one drink usually leads to a bar crawl or 4:00 AM club outings.  New York Times writer Beth McMurtrie states, “The binge-drinking rate among college students has hovered above 40 percent for two decades, and signs are that partying is getting harder”. It is clear that we like to party and have a good time. But, how can we do this enjoyment in a more civilized or responsible way?

We can kill people with a car if we decide that we are not drunk after four drinks.  In 2010 “13, 365 deaths” were reported as alcohol related highway crashes. To think that “13, 365 deaths” could have been prevented is extremely frightening. I know smoking affects others just as much as the person who smokes. But at the end I see smoking as a type of karma, “you decided to smoke, you have that health issue”. However, with alcohol is not the case, we have the power to control how much we drink and how safe we can be. So why the double standards?

            Just as much as we like to judge those who smoke, we should also consider judging that friend who has gone the extra mile on beer pong champs more than once. 

           

-Maria Blanc Zoco 

Works Cited

Altmann, Juliet. "Your College Days Are No Excuse: How Binge Drinking Is A Threat To Millennial." Elite Daily Your College Days Are No Excuse How Binge Drinking Is A Threat To Millennial Comments. N.p., 23 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

"Drunk Driving by the Numbers | Bureau of Transportation Statistics." Drunk Driving by the Numbers | Bureau of Transportation Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

MCMURTRIE, BETH. "Why Colleges Haven't Stopped Binge Drinking." The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.