Drinking Age

  I, like many of my peers, have been affected by the use of alcohol from middle school. I am not the type of person to drink at all and I have never had a drink once before in my life. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for everyone. Before I discuss my views on lowering the drinking age, I would like to tell a little story. There was this crazy party near the end of summer, and everyone who was anyone was there. There was drinking involved and one of the guys involved was going into the military. Well, this particular guy (let's call him Joe) got so drunk that he started throwing up uncontrollably. He passed out. No one knew if he was even still living because there seemed to be no chest motion. In the city that I live in, everyone knows everyone. Not because Charlotte, NC is small, but because everyone that lives in South Charlotte goes to school together and participates in societal events together. Imagine seeing someone that you've known since the 6th grade passed out and not moving on the floor. Maybe you should have stopped him from drinking so much. Maybe if you had tried, his eyes wouldn't be rolled back in his head. None of that even matters anymore though because the damage has been done. 
  I can see why some people would argue for the drinking age being lowered. It's true that at 18 we can register to vote and are not allowed to drink legally. It's true that in other cultures, alcohol is introduced at a young age not as something to abuse, but more as a sign of cultural respect. It's true that in America that type of culture is not present. But does the fact that we haven't been exposed to it mean that we are allowed to take drinking to an extreme just because we weren't gifted with the ability to limit ourselves with its use? 
   The answer is no. If the drinking age is lowered, some people will still take advantage of it and if we continue with this level of illegal drinking something will break. It seems to me that the drinking age will have to be lowered anyway, because jail time is a repercussion of underage drinking already and it doesn't seem to be having an effect. If we were all taught to drink responsibly instead of sneaking an excess of alcohol I believe that the level of illegal drinking will be lowered. Underage drinking won't be completely obliterated by lowering the drinking age, but perhaps America's youth will not take advantage of alcohol and situations like my first-hand account will not be a regular occurrence anymore.