"21"

Is 21 the "right" age to be able to legally drink alcohol and if NOT, what age do you think it should be?  I loved, loved, and loved the answers this question evoked.  From all walks of life.  I wasn’t expecting the diversity of answers to be honest, but they were great. 

If I were asked this I would immediately say a human being should be able to drink legally when the country deems it is ok for that human being to go to war and to vote.  It just makes sense to me.  But then again, nothing this country decides or approves or doesn’t approve makes sense, so why should this.  And I agree that if a person cannot drink until 21, then they can’t go to war either. 

Let’s be honest.  It doesn’t matter when it is “legal” we have all drank before it was.  If you didn’t, kudos to you.  I personally don’t know if allowing kids to drink sooner would increase the DUI’s or drunk driving accidents or deaths, I just know that once a person is 21 and you can do it legally, it is not nearly as thrilling as it is taking your chances and drinking illegally.  I am almost 40 and I have gotten just as drunk at this age, as I did when I was in college.  And I swear I will never drink again.  Maturity is relative to each individual.  I agree I wouldn’t want to sit at a bar with most 18 year olds, probably because the things we value in life will be drastically different, but I also agree there are people who are my age who also have drastically different values and I don’t want to share a bar with them either.  It’s kind of like driving.  Some people are more equipped at driving at 16 years old, than others.  It’s impossible to make it per that person’s ability.  If that’s the case, then most “Senior Citizens” should lose their license based on the fact that their ability to drive is gone.  Not every 70 year old has this problem though.  It would be nice if everyone had to take a class, to prove they had the right mind and capacity to vote, drink, drive, PARENT, whatever, but unfortunately we don’t live in a world where that is possible. 

Responsibility is learned.  We aren’t born knowing it.  Some of us are better at it than others.  You really don’t want my opinion on World Peace (i.e. no wars) or legalizing pot…I suppose that is an entirely different blog.  I do agree with a comment made though…in regards to other countries.  I think we are a much bigger mess than a lot of countries.  A hot mess really.

  Canada seems like a nice place to live.