There are few milestones in life that actually grant you unadulterated abilities. At 18, you might be able to drive, but you’re also burdened with the right to vote. I’ve heard having children endows you with joy, but burdens you with that child. Throughout life there are milestones that are double-edged, and are often considered times where you have money, energy or time, but never all three. Turning 21 is an anomaly: you don’t have the responsibilities of adulthood, but you have all the energy and time you could want. Turning 21 comes with benefits that 20 didn’t have, including the most buzzed-about benefit: being buzzed. 21 is a checkpoint in life like few others, where alcoholism is welcomed, yet responsibility evades you.
At 18 I didn’t think a birthday could be any better. I was finally freed from the shackles of suburbia. I was still in high school though, and unaware of the impending pandemic, so in retrospect that carried a naivety I don’t think I’ll ever replicate. Turning 21 somehow felt more significant. I actually feel like an adult, and maybe this is that same 18-year-old naivety I felt 3 years ago, but I’ll have to check back in 3 more. Although legal drinking is an added benefit of being 21 (alongside being one year closer to exiting the draft age) there are downsides that often go ignored. The anticipation of going to bars is replaced pretty quickly by a realization that part of the allure of partying is its taboo. You’re telling me I don’t have to be creative anymore? I can walk in the front door? It’s a culture shock to say the least.
Although I’ve been 21 for about a week, I already have notes. Given that feeling of exciting taboo associated with teenage extracurriculars subsides as soon as you’re legal, I’m advocating that the drinking age be lowered back down to 18 immediately. Underage drinking numbers will plummet. Cynics might say this is because they’re no longer underage, but I say don’t underestimate a teenager’s desire to break rules. As soon as something is allowed, it’s no longer cool, and as it’s the unpaid job of the young person to look cool, drinking will become pasé. Teenagers (whom I now sadly refer to as my evergrowing junior) will find new ways to spend their weekends. I’m of course kidding, as in this scenario Hell is also air-conditioned, and if underage drinking becomes unpopular, underage smoking will become mandatory.
The most ceremonious part of turning 21 is being welcomed into the Majority Sorority, that group of no-longer-minors whose ID’s actually scan. But even before being hazed, 20-year-olds everywhere act no different than 21-year-olds. In fact, I can name several teenagers that drink more in one night than an entire small town does in a month. They also haven’t discovered hangovers yet. Bully for them.
There’s an acceptance that comes with being 21; the blind eye can suddenly see, and it’s wide open. You can now do what you did before, but this time in public, and even with family. The same cannot be said for many other teenage pastimes. It’s a silly game we play with 18-20 year-olds, where we act like we don’t know what’s going on and they act like nothing is. This is the real milestone. Rather than being welcomed into the club of majority, 21 is more a celebration of crossing the finish line of childhood, a reward for alcoholic abstinence, or at least successfully covert petulance.
The first time I ordered alcohol as a 21-year-old, I didn’t get carded. This was anticlimactic and disappointing, but being so freshly 21, I felt like I was still getting away with something. While being seen as an unequivocal adult did hurt the several feelings I have left, I was more upset with my younger self for not even trying to break the rules. The only thing more embarrassing than being carded is asking to be carded. Youthful delusions are only interesting if you’re young, and if you no longer get asked to show your ID, you shouldn’t be having delusions.
21, like most birthdays, is just another day. The difference between 20 and 21 is more in attitude than ABV. Although there’s pressure to celebrate your 21st birthday, I felt it just deserved acknowledging: as adolescence hasn’t quite met adulthood, 21 has me feeling whelmed; not over or under, just right on the line. If you’re on the verge of turning 21, I have bad news for you: after turning 21 my mindset shifted, and suddenly I feel like an old man; your worst nightmares are true. When I see alcohol I no longer think “exciting,” I just think “expensive.” Maybe you just turned 21 and disagree, or maybe this mindset is more telling of me than anyone else, but either way, it doesn’t make anything cheaper.
If you’re anxiously approaching your 21st birthday, just remember: you’re legal forever now. Celebrate being 21 while the information on your driver’s license is still something to flaunt. 21 is something to enjoy, just don’t enjoy it all in one night. Come the morning after, you and the friend holding your hair will thank me.
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The Smoking Section is where I observe the world at large, and put a magnifying glass on a subject we all hold dear to our hearts. As a member of Gen Z, I think it’s important that we take a step back and remember that life is not that serious, and no topic is too good to ridicule. In the Smoking Section, we take a step outside of the party for a breath of less-fresh air. Here if you don’t have anything nice to say, pull up a chair next to me.
@schmidtconrad
