X: i've got straight edge

My life is marked by the letter X. The letter X is intense. It helps to fulfill my life; it is a personal decision. X stands for freedom. X stands for pride. X stands for straight edge.

Being straight edge means living above the temptations of alcohol, smoking, and drug use. But take a step back, the straight edge lifestyle isn’t about following rules. It’s living on the edge in an alternative way. The straight edge lifestyle goes against the precedents which so much of the youth society sets. While high school and college students who are underage may crave the idea of engaging in the unknown and fighting authority, drinking and drug use are not constructive experiences or effective rebellions.

I personally live straight edge not because I embrace authority, but because I understand that these actions fail to undermine such powers and in fact give authorities more reasons to constrain the youth, to look down upon the youth. It fuels the idea that the young generations are incapable and immature. By marking oneself as straight edge, one is free to express his or herself in new ways and share in more creative outlets.

An underground development, straight edge encompasses an ideal. While straight edge has been followed by teens of different scenes and backgrounds, it was the early hardcore punk movement in the US that started the lifestyle. Minor Threat, a hardcore band of the 80’s, was one of the most influential bands participating in the straight edge movement. Their 46 second song “Straight Edge” highlights the point of this way of life.

“I’ve got the straight edge/I’m a person just like you/But I’ve got better things to do/Than sit around and smoke dope/’Cause I know I can cope.”

But, condemning the mislead decisions of peers is not the end goal. Straight edge remains a personal choice.

We often treat drinking at college or experimenting before our lives “pass us by” as a part of the inevitable. Yet, it is just a simple decision to live life to a higher standard. It only takes one letter to crossover onto this edge.

X is a part of me. X helps to form my identity without robbing me of my individuality. By choosing X, I am liberated from any gray areas in decisions. Straight edge is an answer for all the non-conformists.

"Straight Edge" by Minor Threat

I'm a person just like you
But I've got better things to do
Than sit around and fuck my head
Hang out with the living dead
Snort white shit up my nose
Pass out at the shows
I don't even think about speed
That's something I just don't need

I'VE GOT STRAIGHT EDGE

I'm a person just like you
But I've got better things to do
Than sit around and smoke dope
'Cause I know I can cope
Laugh at the thought of eating ludes
Laugh at the thought of sniffing glue
Always gonna keep in touch
Never want to use a crutch

I'VE GOT STRAIGHT EDGE

SFL shoutout

Few can declare that college campus flyering has had any serious effect on one’s life. In fact, it is widely accepted that flyering tedious and dull. However, I can honestly claim that flyering for Student For Life has challenged me to grow, encouraged me to live my beliefs without shame, and helped me cling to reason above fear of rejection.

“Flyering” is the act of posting advertisements (in the form of flyers) around the school. It is a task born out of necessity for clubs campus-wide.

When I decided to join SFL, I didn’t put too much thought into the decision. I was a freshman and it seemed like a natural progression from my participation in the pro-life movement throughout high school. When I came to college I didn’t understand that meeting new people also meant opening myself to vulnerability. Friendships were no longer based on history or shared upbringings. I left a world where my community knew about and accepted my dedication to being pro-life and entered college, where these beliefs seemed to separate me from my peers, giving me one more insecurity.

My extraverted pro-life beliefs began to fade somewhat; they were just something I identified myself with at SFL meetings or inside my own head.

Then, I began flyering for SFL by myself. I would be sweating and nervous, making eye contact with just the laces of my shoes as I blindly stapled SFL handouts on public posting sites. Slowly the flyering process led me to be more confident. There was something so powerful about identifying myself with the flyers. To me, it became both a public statement and an internal reminder that beliefs aren’t about approval.

Being pro-life isn’t a label I tack onto the bulletin board of my identity. My pro-life beliefs are so much more than that, and only the opportunities SFL has provided me with could have helped me rediscover this last semester.

Thanks helena and james and your parents, logan and eric, for all you are giving to this world.

"I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself." 

-Mother Teresa

the tipping point

A new semester is well underway for me here in Williamsburg. If you ever visit, you will get a great feeling of respect across campus for the historic town in which we are blessed to learn. The mere fact that freshmen and seniors alike covet classes in the Wren Chapel proves how we value this great tradition.

But, sadly, in this same holy place where Thomas Jefferson so famously studied, my peers feed media encouraged sex addictions, fuel their bodies with alcohol (irresponsibly) and sell their minds out to TV show after TV show. The overwhelming attitude held at W&M is that intelligence is revered when paired with a certain acceptance of moral relativity and immoral carelessness.

And therefore, I am glad that the closing of last semester is far in the past and the ending of this semester is a good look into the future. I will emotionally prepare myself this time around.

The last day of the semester, “blowout,” is an excuse to do many obnoxious things, the first of which is coming to class drunk. Imagine a 300-person room at maximum capacity in which the majority of people are drunk. This is what my microecon class looked like at 10 a.m. that Friday.

I sat down to listen to the last 50-minute lecture before our final, but I was incapable of focusing on the professor because of a boy two rows in front of me: a drunk 18-year-old college freshman staring at internet porn videos. Looking. Smiling. Pointing. Laughing.

Haha. LOL. Isn’t that funny?

Yeah, so funny I was tearing up. I have never felt such an urge to act out violently against another human than in that classroom. Ever. But, I didn’t do anything. And neither did anyone else. The entire class chose to ignore and laugh. Because, after all, this is the way college is.

I am far from believing that life should be taken seriously all day everyday, but I do believe there are serious choices we make in our lives. There are choices that can bring us to a better state of enlightenment and self-control. And, there are choices that, well, cause us to be stumbling drunk, looking at pornography in a public classroom in front of 300 peers.

I refuse to believe that we will be able to continue to ignore, laugh and turn our heads from such obvious violations of human morals. We will reach a tipping point.