John's College Drinking Score Sheet

Days so far at college: 20

Number of parties attended: 6

Percentage of how many of those parties involved alcohol: 100%

Number of alcoholic drinks consumed: 0

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Okay, before I get started, let me just offer this disclaimer: I am not trying to be anybody's parent here. Nor am I trying to belittle or look down upon those who choose to drink, or tell anyone how to live their lives. However, I know I can't be the only college student who doesn't drink. And for those people like me, I would like to offer my words.

I know that a few weeks as a freshman doesn't exactly make me an expert on college. Hell, walking home the other night, I took a "short cut" that led me in the opposite direction of my dorm. So I'll be the first to admit my own ignorance as to the in's and out's of college life. However, in this case you don't have to have experience in order to have conviction. Or common sense, as a matter of fact.

Now, I'm not usually a numbers kinda guy. I like to make my arguments in terms of pathos, cause that's what I'm good at. But sometimes, the numbers speak for themselves, so I'm gonna go ahead and give you some numbers, then I'll get into my rant for the week.

696,000.

That's how many alcohol related cases of violence are reported annually on college campuses, according to the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Curious about how many cases that is per campus? No? Well too bad, I already did the math. That's about 145 cases of alcohol related violence per campus, per year. And in case I haven't beaten this point to death enough already, let's go even further. If we factor in the approximate amount of time we spend away from campus during breaks, let's just say summer and winter breaks, we'll just go ahead and round that to 120 days. That leaves us with 245 days on campus. What does this mean? It means that as a national average, there is an alcohol related instance of violence occurring more than once every other day on every campus across the country.

Ready for more?

Don't answer that, it was rhetorical – You're getting more, dammit.

97,000.

That's the number of alcohol related sexual assault/date rape cases reported annually across college campuses, according to the NIAAA. 20 cases per campus, per year. That's just what's reported. That's not counting the number of cases that don't find their way into a police file. At this point, I think you can probably understand the message I'm trying to get across with these statistics:

Angsty teens + massive amounts of alcohol = bad idea.

Even though it's been just three weeks here at school, I have already settled into my role as "drunk babysitter" on the weekends. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining by any means. It's a job I am perfectly fine doing. But people always ask me why I'm so persistent about checking on people, and keeping tabs while everyone parties. Well, someone's gotta do it. It sure as hell won't be the upperclassmen. The sadistic pleasure an upperclassmen gets out of seeing a freshman get absolutely wasted in an attempt to be accepted is one of the most dangerous driving forces behind the epidemic of college alcohol abuse. But that's why I make a good party dad, and why I've been so successful at sobriety in both high school and now college. I let very few people around me affect the way I choose to behave.

It's hard to fall victim to peer pressure when you consider virtually nobody around you your peer.

I realize I'm kind of in a league of my own with that attitude. I'll go ahead and say that it's totally a snobbish, entitled attitude to have. It's not that I consider myself to be better than everyone around me, but my explanation for this frame of mind is a rant for another day. For now, I'm just trying to make the point that a great way to stay sober is to do your best to not let all the drinking that goes on around you tempt you.

If any of this sounds at all like I'm trying to pat myself on the back, know that my intention isn't be a one man cheering squad for myself. I promise, I'm not trying to insinuate that I'm better than anybody. In fact, I really hate talking about myself. But in this case, I don't think I can talk about this issue without bringing up my own experiences. My ultimate goal in life is to be a good influence on as many people as possible. And if I can start doing that now, I'll risk sounding like a raging narcissist if it means somebody may benefit from what I have to say.

Okay, who's ready to start getting a brighter tone going here?

ME!

I'm an optimist at heart, so this is the part of the rant I really want to get to.

If there would be one single thing I'd hope you get out of reading this article, it would be this:

Alcohol does not equal fun.

Not to say that fun and alcohol are mutually exclusive, but I'm tired of the common notion among college students that "as long as I'm drinking, I'll have fun." It's simply not true.

But here's the good part.

There is so much to do, no matter what college you go to, or even in high school, that doesn't involve drinking. In high school, my friends and I got together virtually every weekend and got plenty crazy, and acted like big enough jackasses without ever bringing alcohol into the mix. That's probably one of the biggest reasons why I don't drink, actually. I don't need it. Often times, I'll even behave like more of a jackass than the actual drunk people around me. Yes, I realize that not everyone is like me. I have a certain combination of charisma and stupidity that makes me a perfectly good party animal while completely sober.

My point here is that it is entirely possible to have a great time without alcohol. Here's another example. My roommate and I host a movie night every Friday in our dorm, and so far its been massively successful. All week, we get people telling us how excited they are, give us votes for next week's movie, and seem very enthusiastic. If we continue to experience this level of growth, we'll have to move locations to the TV room in the student lounge. It's kinda awesome. The other day, I was thinking about why so many people get energized and excited to come to our movie nights, and I realized that its because they can count on an atmosphere in which they wont feel pressured to be anyone but themselves. And I believe that the lack of alcohol is one of the biggest contributions to that secure feeling.

I'm not some anti-alcohol revolutionary. I don't even know that I'll always be sober. But when I see a problem around me, it's hard to keep quiet. Every time one of my hall mates or friends gets heavily drunk, all I can think about is making sure they don't turn into one of those numbers I mentioned before. I just want them to put the same effort into taking care of themselves.

So I guess that's why I went on this rant today. I have a burning desire to see the world at its best. Which means I have a burning desire to see each person at their best. But getting drunk every weekend (even on week days), disregarding the best parts in you and instead filling it with alcohol, abusing your body, these are all serious problems right now.

There's always going to be another party. There's always going to be more booze. But the opportunities we have in this life to make genuine connections, lasting memories, and beautiful moments... those are much more rare. So why would you risk letting one of those moments pass you by in favor of one night of putting yourself at risk that you probably won't even remember the next morning?

To all those high school/college students trying to stay sober: keep at it. Know that your pursuit is a valiant one, as well as one that will not go to waste. In fact, being sober has made me a pretty popular guy (and not just because I'm the all-time designated walker). Those around me find it fascinating that I'm sober, it makes me stand out in a good way. Then when they find out I'm also not sexually active, they look at me like I'm some sort of ghost. It blows people's freaking minds that there is someone on college who can be both sober AND celibate. So it's not always as much of a struggle as it seems, because there's going to be plenty of people who admire you.

To all those who choose to drink: please, please, please, for the love of God and all that is holy, be responsible. This is the time of our lives where we set the tone for how we're going to live. Setting good habits now will prepare us that much more for the world ahead.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Let's all try to be the awesome people that we are.