Being Straight Edge is not about some 90-degree angle on a piece of paper. It's about being a person of self-pride, self-discipline, and dignity. I became a follower of the Straight Edge lifestyle when I was in high school in the early 1990s. When other kids my age were starting to experiment with things like smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and taking recreational drugs, I found myself hanging out with a close knit group of a few friends doing the things we enjoyed together, and simply had fun in each other's company. We had fun talking and joking around with each other without having to indulge ourselves in things like smoking and drinking and drugs. I found out that you could have a good time and enjoy life's simple pleasures without giving in to peer pressure and following the crowd and copying what other people do.
Instead, I chose to become Straight Edge. I chose not to drink alcohol. I chose not to smoke cigarettes. I chose not to do drugs. I chose to remain a virgin. Straight Edge is all about living a "pure" and "clean" life. It's about staying away from the things that do your body harm. When you take the pledge to become Straight Edge, you are committing yourself to a life where you won't do drugs, you won't smoke, you won't get drunk, and you won't engage in meaningless and promiscuous sexual relationships. It doesn't mean you have become some weakling by abstaining from many of the things that other people consider pleasurable activities. It means you've become a highly disciplined individual who cares enough about your body not to screw up your life from drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and having dozens of meaningless sexual partners. On these lines, being a Straight Edge follower makes you "hardcore." As a matter of fact, Straight Edgers are more "hardcore" than anyone. Straight Edgers like myself consider ourselves "hardcore" because we have the mental strength and personal discipline to decline what other people readily accept in their everyday lives.
Let us try and put something into perspective about being Straight Edge. Think about this. You have $30 in your pocket. You're a heavy cigarette smoker. You've been thinking about going to your local music store to buy the latest CD by your favourite artist. You have enough money to buy the CD, but suddenly you have a craving for a cigarette and you don't have a pack on you. You're starting to have conflicting opinions about what you really want to buy with your money. Remember, you're a heavy smoker and you can't do without your cigarettes. You would rather spend your $30 on two packs of cigarettes to satisfy your nicotine addiction than get that CD, wouldn't you? Now, if you were Straight Edge and never smoked a cigarette in your life, you wouldn't think twice about what to do with that $30.
If you really want to live your life to the fullest, you have to have a clear mind. You have to try and live every day with your eyes wide open to know everything that you've done, everything that you're presently doing, and everything that you plan to do in the future. Sure, going to a bar or a club with your friends will give you a good time on a Friday night. But you have so many drinks with your friends that you all get so stoned drunk while your favourite band is playing at the club. Will you remember hearing the band? Will you remember the conversations you had with your friends? Will you remember the jokes and gossip you were telling each other? You'd probably answer no to all these questions when you wake up with a hangover on Saturday morning. Will you regret not remembering the band playing? You probably will. Will drinking so much and having one night of "fun" aid you in living a longer and more fulfilling life? Definitely not. And this is what I'm stressing more than anything.
Lots of people say we should live for the moment, enjoy life to the fullest, because life is so short. I agree, life is meant to be enjoyed, to have fun, and we all need to live happy lives. But when you intoxicate your body and engage in meaningless sexual activities, are you really making yourself happy for life, or are you just living for the pleasure of the moment? Momentary happiness and pleasures are great, but they are just one time things. What about the remainder of your life? Will that happiness and pleasure remain in your life five, ten, thirty, or fifty years into your future? But who am I to say? It's your life and your business. I'm not telling you how to live your life, because God did not give me the right to do that. I am just explaining how I am living mine. All I know is that I'm living my life by my own rules, and I'm living my life on the edge ... the Straight Edge!
