June 16 'an excuse to go drinking'

"An excuse to go drinking," or so charges Abhik Kumar Chanda. As sound the argument may be, I beg to differ only slightly by saying that in my opinion June 16 is not the only excuse to go drinking on the calender of South African youth. Fitting snuggly into this category myself, I must say that instead we try to squeeze in drinking (and smoking weed, etc., etc) whenever we can, be it June, January or December.

I remember that back in the day June 16 was a big deal, and if you didn't "stay away", you were only asking for it. As the years of the transition drew, my parents became more lax, allowing me to go to school on Stay-Aways, but still there was a brooding ominous feeling I'm sure.

Today, in an interesting twist of fate, the 16/06 is Youth Day- a legitimate public holiday. However, today's youth seem to be on a totally different wavelength, and the sanctity of the Day seems to have disappeared.

It all really boils down to an overrarching zeitgeist- we seem to be in a cathartic mood- and what better way to do so than with drinking, partying and the likes. At least that's what I've told myself in my quest for answers.

The sad thing about this explanation, be it indeed accurate, is that if the general mood is defined by catharsis, we as South African youth are terribly misled. We have so much that we have to tackle, much of it related to our cathartic behaviour: rising levels of drug use, crime, AIDS etc.

We should concertedly try to move away from political rhetoric (ala ANCYL), and apathy (general youth population) and do something about something. Each one choose one problem they wish to tackle and go for it.

If only ideals weren't ideals.