The Red and Black

Issue date: 2/13/08 Section: Opinions

DREW LICHTENSTEIN

I love alcohol. I love the downtown atmosphere. I love hanging out with my friends when they are getting wasted, and I love the craziness of a night of alcoholism.

However, I do not drink. I realized a long time ago that it's just not my cup of tea (or glass of Heineken, if you will).

I hate the hangovers I inevitably get, I hate spending money when I have a minimum-wage job and I especially hate losing control and acting like an idiot - I do that more than enough when I'm sober. I guess I'm doomed to live a life of unnerving sobriety.

For a while, I tried soldiering through my aversion to being drunk since everyone else seemed to find fun in a night of drinking. Despite everyone's insistence, it just wasn't working for me.

I soon realized I could have just as much fun without drinking, even if I am the only sober person in Athens on a Friday night.

It's not that I enjoy some sort of air of superiority when talking to someone drunk. In fact, it's just the opposite - I love the conversations with my friends or even random strangers when they've had perhaps a bit too much too drink, especially if it's someone who is otherwise normally quiet and withdrawn.

I never have and I never will look down on people who drink. I mean, the only time people find me funny is when they've been drinking, and I certainly can't lose that.

Being the one non-drinker in a group also has other positive attributes (besides the fact that I always to get sleep in my comfortable bed).

The most obvious is that I am always the designated driver. Sometimes, that can get annoying. However, I don't mind being slightly inconvenienced if it means everyone gets home safely (and the occasional dollar or midnight cheeseburger they send my way is a nice benefit).

In addition, people find it helpful to call me the day after to find out if they really said this or did that the night before (and the answer is almost always yes). I guess the presence of one sane mind during an evening of insanity is a necessity - though, the fact that I am ever considered the sanest person in a room is comical.

Sure, not drinking can have its occasional downside besides always being the designated driver.

While I don't ever feel the pressure to drink since I know I don't want to, I do occasionally feel awkward when my friends keep asking me. I guess I'll never experience the drunken hook-up (since taking advantage of a drunk female while I am sober would rank up there on the "Scummiest Things Possible List"). Oh well, no awkward mornings waking up to someone you don't know or, worse yet, ruining a friendship over one act of indiscretion.

Listen, I am not trying to change people's minds about what they do on the weekends (or, in some cases, Tuesday afternoons). We're all old enough to make our own decisions, and I simply chose not to drink.

Go out, have fun and raise your beer in cheer to being young and carefree. However, please don't give me a funny look if I toast you with a water.


- Drew Lichtenstein is a junior from Marietta majoring in comparative literature.

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