Living on the Edge

Ever since I was a child,I am mentally frustrated. There's a lot of reason for this to occur, though. I thought that the best thing to do so that this disturbing feeling can be released. Thus,after finishing high school,I guess I should start to intoxicate myself,that is to smoke,drink and maybe even take recreational drugs. I have lost every moral consciousness that existed in every normal homosapien. However,right before I start to do any of these,I was attracted with a certain musical genre. Since its birth in the early 90's,Hardcore Punk and Metalcore genre have taken the musical industry by storm. Bands like Minor Threat,AFI,Bleeding Through,Killswitch Engage and Trivium are some prominent Hardcore bands that had created a cult following of their own. Fast riffs,dual leads and screaming vocals was beginning to be all teenagers,including mine's cup of tea. I started to where black shirts,grew a long hair and speaks in a more growler tone,just to show how I am addicted to to such head-crushing tunes. Soon,I learned that this musical genre is not just a mere sound you here everyday. With it,comes a very,very unique lifestyle of its own. A lifestyle that is hard to be adopted by everyone. A lifestyle they called "Straight Edge". Only two words,but enough to change a person's life. This lifestyle stand on three very simple rules that needs to be followed by the adherents;no smoking,no drinking and no drugs. The history of this movement date way back in the late 80's when Ian MacKaye,the lead vocalist of the band Minor Threat, procude the song "Straight Edge" for his band's first EP. The song's lyrics was pretty much simple though,but it called for abstinence from drugs and alcohol,a conditions that is very much different with the majority followers of the musical genre during that particular time. Yet,this song was succesfull in being a hit among Hardcore Punk fans,and the philosophy beginning to gain more followes from day to day. A prominent symbol of straight edge is the letter "X". Usually marked on the back of both hands,this is a symbol that simply means "NO".

Since being introduced with this new rationale,I started to wonder,what makes a human special? Is it what they do,or what they abstain from doing? I've come to a conclusion that the latter is the answer. You don't need to smoke,drink,or take drugs only because you wanted to be seen as "macho" and stuff. After a lot of thinking,I've decide to engage myself to this movement. I have vow to not allow any foreign intoxicant to enter my body,thus keeping it clean and healthy. I'm a Muslim,and I don't see that this lifestyle contradict with my sacred religion.

Life has been better. With this philosophy,I am even healthier than ever. My friends thought that I'm uncool,just simply because I did not do anything that usual teenagers at my age would do. Still,I'm proud with what I belief is the truth. You need not to be messed up to solve a problem. I'm just a normal person like everyone,only I have better things to do.