A Reply To Straightedge

I've never really sat down and thought about why I'm not straight edge. I don't know whether it's because it's something you are which comes by instinct or simply because of a bad experience but I've never asked myself why I'm not.

I don't drink (simply because I don't like the taste and sometimes drunk people really piss me off) but I do smoke and have taken drugs.

I don't have casual sex, I have a girlfriend and I am in a long term relationship where sex is a part (but not a dominating part) of our lives.

What I do and do not do is my choice. I have never put it under a label, nor searched for a group of others who are likewise.

Maybe it's the sense of unity, or the feeling that you're not alone, but I've never understood the fascination with calling yourself straight edge. Whilst I'm sure it's something that your proud of (if you are) I fail to comprehend why you feel the need to put yourself under a certain heading.

Many thousands of people don't drink or smoke but do not call themselves straight edge. I doubt it's ever crossed the minds of many of them because they don't see themselves as something special, they are just being who they are and what they want.

I understand that to not smoke or drink is perhaps something of an anomaly at the moment, but just because you don't doesn't give you the right to look down on people who do. Just as it's your choice for not taking those substances, it's other people's choice to involve themselves with them.

I don't see why you need to make a stand against something, which in truth isn't as pressing as other issues in the world. It's not as if the world is loosing the battle with drugs and needs you to tattoo 'X's' on your hands, take their pipe and save them.

If you are actively trying to eliminate racism in your school, or stop homophobia in the area you live then that is something to be proud of and something that you can take a stand against, because they are issues that simply cannot go on.

Drink, sex and drugs on the other hand is not. Whilst you may not agree with people doing it, it hasn't reached crises point.

Yes, people die from it and I'm in no way encouraging or glorifying drug use here, but at the end of the day, it's their choice. We all have free will, saying that people are pressured into taking drugs simply is not true. We are all capable of making our own choices and respecting other peoples.

You don't need to associate not taking drugs/drink/having casual sex with straight edge. I mean this in the least patronising way possible but I don't see how praise should be given to you if your straight edge. It's like respect. You don't automatically respect somebody when you first meet them, they have to do something to earn it. Not doing something that your not forced to do isn't doing anything particularly special, it's your choice.

People don't go around demanding praise because they haven't killed anyone, or because they don't look at child porn. You aren't forced to so you're not achieving anything, your simply choosing not to.

If you have been hooked on drugs and brought yourself out of it then that is something that deserves praise.

If you stop a fight where a gang of kids are picking on another one - that deserves praise. We all have the right to decide what we want to do, we are humans, not labels.