The Respect Issue

“Respect commands itself and it can neither be given nor withheld when it is due” –Eldrige Cleaver

The way I see it, the central tenet of the Missouri 18 to Drink initiative is respect. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Now find out what it means to me.

Love doesn’t make the world go ’round, respect does. Respect keeps us from taking other people out behind the woodshed even when we don’t like them very much. Just look at how many ways we express respect–respect their talents, respect their feelings, respect their space, etc. Society, especially in the PC world that we live in, seems to have great respect for everything.

I wonder if it is because we have all been in a situation where we weren’t respected. Think back to the last time someone disrespected you when it was uncalled for. Think about how it made you feel. It hurt, didn’t it?

This is what we are doing to an 18/19/20 year old every time they want to have a drink. We are saying to them “Sorry, I know you are an adult, but we just don’t respect you.” We knowingly deny them a right to do something that any adult should be able to do without a valid reason for doing so.

Why? Is it for health reasons? Fear of a rash of drunk drivers? Binge drinking? Each of these reasons have a degree of truth to them, but that doesn’t make them useful in this argument.

Yes, 15 year old drinkers are at more risk to become alcoholics–that’s why it is the Missouri 18 to Drink initiative. Drunk driving has decreased in the 16-20 age range. Better education and forethought of a DD has seen to that. Legal drinkers 21 and over don’t handle themselves much better than underage drinkers when it comes to binge drinking.

Maybe you can come up with a reason that I haven’t thought of that would make sense of a 21 drinking age. I am certainly open to suggestions.

While we’re waiting, let’s give respect a chance.