"We don't say that you shouldn't drink, we say that you should drink responsibly," Ryan Smith said.
And what exactly does that mean?
It seems to mean that it’s okay to have a drink or two as a social activity, or to relax yourself. It seems to mean that you might even do more than that as long as you aren’t driving and don’t drink an exorbitant amount. Or don’t get caught.
But compared to the so-called “tea-totalers” even one beer is too many, and if you haven’t officially turned 21, our state agrees.
Ryan is a student who participated along with many others in Alcohol Awareness Day. The University Health Center put together a display in the Nebraska Union which included beer goggles and a drunk driving simulator.
Some drank a “mocktail” before giving the simulator a try. Some thought it was very educational, but others weren’t as impressed.
On the other hand, the booth for Mothers Against Drunk Driving brought in a car that had been in a drunk-driving accident. The family of the people who died donated it for the cause.
Another booth from the University Police was a beer goggle obstacle course that students stumbled through. But one student named Molly commented, “"I actually think I'm more coordinated when I'm drunk, but this is just a simulation." She never drinks more than a “few drinks” after having blacked out once when she was a senior in high school. But the point here is that even with all these educational booths, there are still people who will say, “nah, it couldn’t happen to me. I know my limits.”
The problem with thinking that they know their limits is that the part of the brain which is affected first is the part that is involved with thinking straight and making decisions. So how do you know if you are okay to drive or not?
Another booth that was serving the mocktails was giving students a better idea as to how much alcohol is in each type of drink. Overall, there were a lot of booths with information, and one can only hope that people learned as they visited, and didn’t just write it off as another attempt of someone else telling them what to do.
