In all the advertisements of alcohol, it’s the beautiful people, the people that are cool or ‘in’ that are drinking. The beer commercials are often the funniest commercials; I wish they weren’t, but they are. Drinking is made to look enjoyable or what everyone is “supposed” to do. The reason why so many young people are involved with alcohol is because of the advertising of it.

We’ve been brainwashed by those ads and other things to think that beautiful people drink, but what is so beautiful about brain damage? What is so beautiful about birth defects? What is so beautiful about suicide and organ failure?

This is a serious problem. Some Christians say they don’t want to give up a social life. One Christian said, “I felt that if we didn’t drink we’d have no friends, that people would think of us as square, no fun, or killjoys.”

These are names that people dread to hear when going against the tide. There are going to be people who won’t want to hang around you because of how you live, but eventually they will have a tragedy in their life, maybe even alcohol-involved, and you’re the one they will come to.

You don’t have to be mean about it. Sometimes you get into a situation and don’t know what to do, but you can be gracious in everything that you do. You don’t have to beat people over the head, but you can take a stand, and I think people will respond positively to it. People will respect you for standing up for what you believe.