Unavoidable Drinking

That's the headline of a letter than ran in today's Chicago Tribune from a 17 year-old Lake Bluff resident.  Here are excerpts:

"I'm 17 and I am a senior in high school.  When the subject of teen drinking comes to mind, I am here to defend the underage drinkers.

"In our suburb, there is nothing to do.  I have no source on this, but if anyone were to survey the teens in our school, I would say more than 80 percent have drunk at least once.

"We are surrounded by alcohol...The parents in our town are oblivious.  The houses are well-hidden with long driveways and big basements just waiting for kids to party in.  Barely anyone in our town gets caught."

Certainly, teens everywhere are sometimes bored, and many are tempted to drink for entertainment. But I was struck by the association this one teen made between suburban living, boredom and drinking.  Who knows if this represents some universal truth.  But it was an alternative point of view not often expressed in a daily newspaper. (And the most surprising thing of all: This teen signed her name!  Surely, her parents had to approve. I sure hope so.)

  

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