Some strange kids asked me to buy them beer. I said “No thank you.”
Lowering the drinking age: Setting the Bar at 18 (US News & World Report)
I have drunk ale from the country of the young
And weep because I know all things now:
…I became a man, a hater of the wind,
Knowing one, out of all things, alone, that his head
Would not lie on the breast or his lips on the hair
Of the woman that he loves, until he dies;
Although the rushes and the fowl of the air
Cry of his love with their pitiful cries.
Poem by William Butler Yeats, Mongan thinks of his past Greatness
Runway Magazine recently featured Seraphine Model Management (and Sera!) in their September 2008 issue. The article, complete with photos from my fashion shows, starts on page 146. In the same issue is Model of the Month Kryptonia Paperdoll, one of the original models in our modeling agency.
I listened to a radio call-in program yesterday. It was about lowering the drinking age to 18 on college campuses to prevent binge-drinking in hiding.
I believe it is not an age issue per say, but more a “cultural-habitual” question. Many countries in Europe have the set drinking age at 16, some countries even have none. There doesn’t seem to be more alcoholism because of that stance. The kids seem to not have the urge to drink in excess and beyond there means, because there is nothing to “prove”.
Lowering the drinking age to 18 might work in the US. It will take a while for the “cultural-habitual” thing to adjust itself properly. After all, think about it – you thrust an eighteen year old automatic weapons and other killing devices into their nimble hands. And then, after the kill, he or she doesn’t deserve a beer to calm them nerves? Give me a break!
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I hadn’t read that Yeats poem before , it’s really beautiful
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I agree with Zee. If an 18-year-old kid is mature enough to kill and die in a war, he or she should be mature enough to have a drink.
Is there anyone who can write of love (especially unrequited love) with more beauty and eloquence than Yeats?
(And kids can obtain liquor at any age…)
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In Australia where the age is 18 teenage binge drinking (among 14-17 year olds) has reached epidemic proportions notwithstanding an education programme and heavy penalties if caught supplying under aged drinkers.
We have excellent tasty low alcoholic beers which are enjoyable; it’s simply impossible to become intoxicated, yet the young go for heavier stuff or attractively packaged premixed drinks (alcohopops) e.g. soft drinks mixed with spirits. I agree prohibition doesn’t usually work but nevertheless when NZ lowered its age from 21 to 18 there was an increase in severe drinking problems. So it’s a mixture of things and probably mainly cultural. As to 20 year old solders unable to legally have a drink I think that’s more a question of the lunacy of sending off such young people to war in the first place; we sail on content to continue the tradition and sheer madness of past generations.
I think the answer rests with society and the idea that reliance on drugs such as alcohol is not very cool since it still remains, when used in excess, as the number one drug of addiction and misery.
Best wishes
I grew up in a household where liquor was readily available. It wasn’t in a locked cabinet, and my parents never told us we couldn’t drink it. But the fact that they never made a big deal about alcohol made it so that we never cared about it at all. I think it’s the “prohibition” of it that makes it more enticing for teenagers to drink. What’s the fun of it if it isn’t illegal?
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I’d never give money for a kid that wants to buy a beer either. Actually I wouldn’t give any money at alll. It has happened a couple of times here, some random kids come and ask you for money… It’s totally weird for me to see someone dressed in proper clothes, with food on the table and a warm bed at home, not to mention so many opportunities the state here provides… begging for money at daylight =/
Congratulations on having your agency featured on Runway Magazine!
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that´s really strange and early people start get drank?
that´s bad…
a kiss!
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hmm…i was prepared to blast that article till i read a little farther. A drinking license is an interesting concept. I don’t think creating an alcohol DMV would be a good idea but i do like the license idea. Just need to modify it so we are not creating yet another bureaucracy. The government is large enough.
Good post, Seraphine. You are an amazing talent with this site and your love of poetry that fits in so well with your topics. Enjoyable and always thought provoking!
This is so North America for me!
In France, there is no legal age. Well, I think it’s 14, 16 and 18 (for wine/ beer/ liquor) but it’s never ever enforced. When I first came to Canada I was just 18 and couldn’t even buy cigarettes in Ontario! I don’t drink so I didn’t care about the booze.
Now when I go back to France, it’s weird for me to see 15-16 years old in bars.
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In Brazil kids can star drinking at 18, but I’m not sure that is a good idea!
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