Being Straight Edged

Straight Edge. It isn't about some 90 degree angle on a piece of paper. It's about being a man of self pride and dignity. It derived from the Punk era in the 80's over in Washington D.C. Let's put something in perspective view. “I'm a 16 year old kid from London. I hang around with my friends, smoke drugs. Drink on weekends till I'm legless. And I'm an avid smoker. What does that make me? It makes me a weakling.” Now “I'm a skin-head punk from Washington D.C. I want to go see my favourite band Minor Threat. They're playing at Washington club. I see some little kid with an X on his hand, that means he can't be served at the pub because he's underage. I'm Straight Edge though. I don't drink. I don't smoke, I don't do drugs. I want to wear that X on my hand.”. Now you know where the sXe expression comes from, that's what I'll use from know on.

Straight Edge is all about staying away from the things that do your body harm. You won't do drugs, you won't smoke and you won't drink yourself to the floor. Doesn't mean you're some weakling and you're not hardcore because you haven't done mushrooms or something extremely stupid along those lines. No. You're more hardcore than anyone. You have the mental strength to decline what others offer you.

Think about this. You have £10 in your pocket. You're a smoker. And you've not got your favourite Punk CD yet. You can afford it. But would you? Wouldn't you rather spend £10 on 2 packets of cigarettes? I know now that if you were an sXe you wouldn't think twice about what to do with that £10.

Take this as another prime example. You smoke, you drink. You do anything you want to. Because you're rebellious. You think it's clever. You think it's right. It's what YOU want to do. Wrong. Drugs have an addiction factor. And they aren't made just to make you happy for some short period of your life. They're made for people to make money. They're made for people to make money. They're made for people to make money. There. I said it 3 times. I hope you understand now.

If you really wanted to be rebellious, you really wanted to live your life to the max. Why don't you try and live it long enough to know what you did? Sure drinking will give you a good time on a Friday night. But will you remember it? Probably not. Will you regret it? Probably will. Will it aid you in a longer more fulfilling life? Definitely not. And this is what I must stress more than anything. Drugs don't help you unless you've got some tuma you need to get rid off. Pot, Nicotine, Alcohol. It's all made so people can make money. And so you can be lured into the big trap that corporations think up every day. Drugs don't make you live longer. They make you dosile.

“I'm a person just like you
But I've got better things to do
Than sit around and f**k my head
Hang out with the living dead
Snort white s**t up my nose
Pass out at the shows
I don't even think about speed
That's something I just don't need


I've got the straight edge “

'Straight Edge', by Minor Threat