What Straight Edge Means to Me

So lately I was talking with someone about why my beliefs of Straight Edge are important. Why do I need a label and ink to express my beliefs. And why this decision is so important to me.

Sometimes it's hard to express why it is so important, it just is. I can be poison free and not be Straight Edge, but by being part of the movement I am declaring that my beliefs are more than just a temporary whim, that I am firm in what I hold as something that drives me and makes me who I am. Being part of a movement with other people that hold the same beliefs is also important. Everyone wants to be an individual but at the same time we all want to be part of something, it's a catch 22, and we need to find those groupings that provide an extension of who we are. To me being part of the Straight Edge movement provides that grouping that extends my beliefs.

When I used to drink I would block myself off from the outside world, now I deal with the shit that comes at me and I actually move beyond it and feel better about myself. I don't like having a crutch. Having something that defines that to me, gives me something more than words and ink to live by and a way to live that won't change with the wind.