the vegan straightedge kid

so last night i went to a cafe-the casual one i usually hang out in. i brought a friend-another casual friend. i never enjoyed the place (sure i dont drink coffee, just orange juice!) nor the conversation, but there were always times where being with someone (whoever he was) was even better than talking to yourself.


it was another cafe where the sheeps usually made a crowd- yes, emos, mellowdick punks, mallcore kids and all those bubble gummy teenagers. And then i saw that guy, the one in black shirt, dark jeans and vans, something on the back of his shirt made me open my eyes wider than usually. "VEGAN STRAIGHT EDGE YOUTH" And i was like shouting "Holy shit! That's lame!" Thanks God that place was crowded and so noisy, otherwise i would have caused myself another trouble.

No. It wasnt because he looked like everyone else there, neither because his friends were all guys with diagonal bangs and black tight jeans. But i always had that sorta feeling each time i saw someone promoted his idealist scene. I just doubted that guy, the label he wore on his shirt was sooo heavy, it was something big, something really big that could be a boomerang to himself, and the scene hes struggling for.


I don't smoke, i don't consume liquors, i don't do the promiscuous sex, i don't eat meat and i do involve in local earth-saving organization. Oh, i listen to Minor Threat and Gorilla Biscuits too if that counts. But i don't label myself as straight edge-never. I don't hate people who label their selves, though personally i hate self-labelling, i think that labelling is necessary in certain situations. And it's good to stimulate the condition of 'lifetime commitment'. But somehow, it's a feeling i can't resist that wearing a shirt showing your glorious lifestyle isn't really wise- it doesn't bring that great pride feeling, but even more shame. It's just like i want to come to that guy and say "How sXe you think you are that you deserve to put that label on your shirt?"

Okay, maybe not all of the kids who wear sXe shirts and marks on the back of their hands are like what i think about........but the problem is, i know the straight edge scene too well (especially here, in my beloved sweet heartbreaking hometown in Indonesia) to 'judge' most of them :)