A moral dilemma of a smaller kind

So, I don't mean to be writing this to give myself a pat on the back or anything, but I faced a moral dilemma of sorts yesterday. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm living in the grey areas of life and am still grasping as to what concepts or events are absolute with concerns of morality for everyone and what issues are best left to the individual to choose. There are many issues I've been thinking about in this context and have not constructed many decisive arguments to push the issues one way or another for myself. One such issue I've dealt with for a long time is alcohol.

For some reason when I was younger, I decided I absolutely wanted to wait to have my first taste of alcohol on my 21st birthday and it would be a strawberry daiquiri. I certainly did have friends that drank in high school and I went to my fair share of lame parties when alcohol was present, but I had made up my mind and was not going back on it. And in truth, I wasn't even sure if I really did want to drink.

I never understood the reason for a need to drink. For one thing, it was not legal to be drinking at our age and I didn't have any desire to loose my inhibition. My serious bf of my high school years was a regular drinker. While we dated, I asked that he not drink and to my knowledge he only did once and he asked about it beforehand. I always tried to get him to explain to me why he drank or why people in general drank. My bf said he drank to have fun and that's why most people did. He also said others might drink because they needed an escape. I remember thinking those were lame excuses for just not being able to be self-controlled or ignoring issues or emotions.

At NWOSU I certainly saw my share of drunk people, sadly watched their inebriated actions, then would pile them into my car and drive them safely back to the dorms. Once again, I was determined to wait until I was 21 and after seeing what some of my peers did while drinking I was very unsure if I would even have my strawberry daiquiri. So my 21st birthday was this summer (by the way, this blog probably isn't going where you think it is...) and I didn't get my strawberry daiquiri. This summer I was working at a Christian camp and I knew they would not appreciate any alcohol consumption, so I knew I wouldn't be drinking not just because of my job but I still didn't know if I wanted to.

Since my birthday, I have gone to some of my old high school friend's 21st b-day parties and have had a couple of drinks and then every once in awhile have a drink with my friends on the weekend. I think I have probably drank a whopping 6 times in my life now. I'm a very big control freak, so I certainly have never drank enough to lose my inhibitions or act in a way I couldn't be proud of. So I still can't say I know what all of the excitement for drinking is about and am not sure that I will be drinking much longer. But this I know, I am not ashamed of my drinking or anything I have done while drinking.

This is where my smaller moral dilemma came into play. As I was filling out an application for the same summer camp I worked at last year, I came across a yes or no question asking if I have "consumed alcohol in the last 12 months". My answer is undeniably yes, BUT i am almost 100% sure that alcohol is viewed from the hiring department's perspective as a negative thing, so I contemplated answering no. I don't think I could describe how much this summer had to have been what God planned for me. It was exactly what I needed and continues to have an impact; so when I was thinking how I may not be able to work there due to my drinking, I panicked and definitely wanted to lie. I was thinking about all of this and asked my friend that just walked in the door at the time what she thought.

When I woke up while I was still laying in my bed, the answer came to me. At this point in my life, I think it is fine if a person of legal age decides to drink alcohol socially (by socially meaning with friends and not to excess) and does NOT try to drive. And if I use Jesus as my example, he certainly has turned water into wine but he didn't condone lying. There's that whole "let your yes be yes and your no be no" verse which can not be denied (Matthew 5:37). So while this may cost me a job and summer I would like to experience, I've decided without a doubt to answer yes on this. Like I said, this isn't a huge decision on my part, but something that made me stop and think. I fully expect if I get an interview I will be asked about this and I have no fear of answering for my actions. In fact despite all I've mentioned about my social drinking, I have technically consumed alcohol during communion at church in the last year, so just that alone would contribute to answering yes.

I don't know if anyone reading this will be too amazed by anything I wrote today, but it was just something I thought I would get off my head and see if anyone had a comment. I am going to challenge anyone that reads this along with myself with this statement. May we all find areas where we could be acting in a hypocritical manner and take steps to correct it, whether it be big or small.

-Kristy