I recognize it is your choice to determine what liquids you ingest. Likewise, I’d expect you not to care what I choose to ingest, either.

Which is why I’m going to take this opportunity to call people out on the uproar that occurs when I utter these three special words: “I don’t drink.”

Oh my goodness. The cat’s out of the bag. I’ll give you a second to let the gasping, furrowing of brows and disbelief pass.  

And after I make this statement, without a doubt, there’s the usual onslaught of questions and comments:

“I respect that.”

“Oh, I get it. Pretending to be drunk is fun.”

“So what do you do?”

People’s “respect” for the fact that I don’t drink is highly unnecessary. It’s just a random offhand comment that people make because they probably feel awkward and might not know what to say. 

And frankly, it makes me feel uncomfortable as well. 

I am not repressing this deep dark desire to drink alcohol for the greater good. Sure, it is partially influenced by my background, but if I really wanted to drink, I would. 

When someone tells me they get drunk all the time, I don’t tell them, “Wow, I really don’t respect that,” because I am not automatically assuming that they drink or don’t drink. There’s no reason to comment upon it. It’s just the way it is.  

It shouldn’t matter so much as to whether you choose to be a part of the alcohol culture. 

But our campus perpetuates the idea that drinking is the only way to have a good time so much so that people assume that’s what everyone must be doing on the weekends. And people assume if you’re not drinking, then the next best thing would be to still go out and pretend to be drunk. 

It’s a rather presumptuous and self-absorbed idea that everyone must be doing what you do to have fun. And if you choose not to drink alcohol, you must be trying your hardest to equate your environment to one of people who do drink because there is no other way to amuse yourself around here.

I’m not going to sit here and list off what I do on the weekends for fun. 

No, I do not sit in the UGL or Grainger and just study. And I’ve never been to Illinites either. The majority of my friends here do drink, but we still hang out on the weekends and manage to have fun.

I know it’s a novel idea to be able to laugh and be socially adept without alcohol, but it’s really not that hard.

Maybe I’m missing out on something, but the facts tell a different story. Each year, a little under 2000 college students die from unintentional alcohol related injuries, about 700,000 students are assaulted by another student who had been drinking and almost 25 percent of college students cite negative academic consequences linked to drinking. 

Of course this doesn’t mean if you are drinking you have done any of the above.

However, being in the drinking environment definitely increases your chances of getting hurt, harassed or falling behind in school when compared to a more sober environment. Whether it’s you or the people around you losing their inhibitions, there is a reduced degree of control,. and it only makes sense that this could potentially lead to trouble.

It’s good to know that I’ve never had the unpleasant experience of waking up next to someone I don’t know, unable to remember anything from the night before. 

I’ll never have to endure a “walk of shame” or puke up my guts because I drank too much that night. I’ll never have to deal with a hangover or random guys I accidentally gave my number to the night before.

This is trouble I’ll gladly miss out on.

Not participating in our University’s drinking culture really isn’t the end of the world. I’ve had nights where I ran around campus doing crazy things with my friends, probably broke some rules and got told to shut up for being loud way too many times. I’ve made the best of friends, laughed until I had tears in my eyes, ate combinations of food I probably shouldn’t have and danced the night away. 

Was I ever drunk? Nope, I didn’t need to be.

Sehar is a junior in LAS. She can be reached at [email protected].