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What is the point of the legal age limits we have
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do you think they are 21?
I have wondered for as long as I can possibly remember how it could make sense to have the legal drinking age be 21, yet the legal age when you become an adult is 18. At 18 you can vote, get a credit card, an apartment, a car, and sign yourself up for the military. All things any 40 year old can do, With all that said, new "adult", don't even THINK about having a beer at your deployment going away party, or apartment-warming.
From my understanding the reason the legal age from drinking was raised from 18 to 21 is because of organizations like MADD pointing out statistics about there being more drinking related accidents when the legal age to drink was 18 (follow all the reasoning at www.mentalfloss.com ). One of the only reasons it was lowered was because Franklin Roosevelt decided if people could go to fight in WW2, then they should be able to have a drink. If that is the case, shouldn't we be looking at that now? There are thousands upon thousands of people being shipped off to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the legal age is still 21. How can it possibly make any sense that an 18 year old child can basically sign their own death certificate, but not be able to have a gin and tonic before they head off to probably the worst and most traumatic experience of their entire existence?
At age 18 you are still a teenager, and have barely figured out any aspects of what life really is. Yes, alcohol stunts your growth and you might not be fully finished growing by 18, so that is understandable I guess, but then again so does caffeine. When you go to college day your junior year of high school, they not only have booths for colleges, but for branches of the military as well. They do such a good job and make it look so glorious and fantastic and cool. Yes it is a great honor to serve your country. But that is borderline false advertising. These kids are extremely impressionable. What if they don't have good grades and college isn't really an option. Or worse, they have exceptional grades, but their family isn't well-to-do and they don't qualify for the scholarships they need to attend. When all of their classmates are sitting around in first period talking about what colleges they've applied to and the conversation turns to them, it is much easier to say that they are joining the military, rather than to seem like you have absolutely no goals or future plans. By the looks of those booths, it seems like just a grand idea. If they really wanted to be honest with everyone, they really need to have the good the bad and the ugly out there. They need to tell you about the post traumatic stress disorders you can end up with. The percent chance you will die if you get deployed, how the hours are long and boot camp is grueling. Not just the honor you will feel, and even happier, how they will pay for your college education and everyone will look up to you and be proud.
I am not against the military in any way. I think the people who serve our country are brave and strong and heroic beyond belief. I will humbly admit I couldn't do it. I am not strong enough physically or mentally to handle that kind of commitment or responsibility and I ABSOLUTELY look up to those who are. I just think that trying to market it to young teenagers in the way they do is not right. I don't think at 18 that someone is mature enough to make that kind of life decision that involves that kind of long term commitment. I don't even think that at 18 a teenager is mature enough to really know what they want to do with the rest of their lives enough to the point that they can choose, and stick with what major they decide upon, or even what college they really want to attend. I guess after thinking, twenty-one isn't the wrong drinking age after all. Eighteen is just the wrong age for legal adulthood and all the decisions and responsibilities that come with it.
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