Recently, Sha’Carri Richardson has been suspended after a failed drug test (marijuanna). After a quick look through twitter, I noticed a huge support system for Sha’Carri with most saying how weed isn’t a big deal. But there was also a great amount of people using her age to excuse what she had done.
My quick answer to this blog is, absolutely not. Also how I define “young” is my age demographic, 18-25. However, I wanted to sound off on the being “young and dumb” trope.
YOLO
I never thought I’d be the type of person to follow YOLO, but looking back at my college experience, it’s fair to say I embodied that motto. I went to California, I threw a dorm party, I’ve gotten high and drunk with friends, and I’ve dealt with boys. When all that came crashing down, I realized I would sometimes find myself dwelling in sad memories. It’s the literal coming down after the high. I look back like damn I kinda went through a lot.
Would I take all those fun moments back despite the rough aftermaths? Absolutely not! At the end of the day, I sincerely had fun and tbh experimenting in college is potentially the best time to experiment anything. Now there are dark moments. In fact, if you see my blog there’s a ton of rants and times where my mental health hasn’t been the greatest during my time in college.
Even more, we are bound to make mistakes that we regret or consider to be foolish, also known as “being young and stupid”. Have I made poor choices regarding dating, my attitudes towards others, what substances I mixed, etc? Of course even if it wasn’t intentional. There have been many moments where I’m thinking to myself at the end, “what did you get yourself into?” 😆. I’ll look back and imagine myself doing things the “right way” or making different decisions before the storm. But, it’s moments like these that provide lessons, losses, and personally for me a memory of me just living life.
I will say, there’s a certain invincibility that comes with being in your twenties. Like if you experiment with a drug, you think that you are immune to the worst happening. If you date a person, you won’t ever think that they can break your heart (aww the naive days). Well, we have our twenties to prove us wrong. It goes to show that life…is our biggest teacher.
Are Our 20’s for Living or Establishing?
I think personally there can be a balance. I think “living” and having fun in your early twenties is just…so much fucking fun. Having freedom from your parents, being away from home, finding out who you really are and making new friends in college (and later outside of college) is life changing. A lot of this also comes with having full responsibly since substances are usually legal during this age. But then again, many 20 something year olds aren’t responsible. I can even use science for this, but let’s face it, many are experimenting around, trying new life experiences especially in their dorms. And, I can’t blame them, I’ve made some irresponsible choices myself lol. I’m still stuck in this phase right now of just trying to live life. It’s the perfect age for mistakes. And even so, it’s very common to see kids coping through drugs, partying, sex (the list goes on).
But after recently blogging about the pressures of being in our 20s, I wonder if it’s as liberating as it is. Many of us are still broke, dealing with mental health issues, student debt, living at home, and feeling unsure about the next direction. Unfortunately, financial responsibilities matter more than social responsibilities in this world (that’s capitalism for you). And although I do have a great sense of financial security right now, I’m always thinking of the future and how to maintain that security. You always have to think about paying just to live and it’s a never ending, sometimes depressing cycle. Making financial mistakes right now can really set you down into a life of debt (just ask my fam). There’s little room to make these “dumb” innocent mistakes.
In Relation To Sha’Carri Richardson
Do I think she was “dumb”? No, not at all. In fact I think that a lot of young irresponsible choices most of the time shouldn’t receive a hard label of being “dumb”. Many times things are more complex than they really are. Sha’Carri recently lost her mother and was dealing with the pain with weed. It seemed like it was a temporary fix to her grief.
Despite that, she knew what would have been the consequences of her actions. It’s a universal fact that athletes aren’t supposed to do any type of drug before they compete. Rules are rules (even with a “harmless” drug like weed), and she fumbled such a huge opportunity. If she had nothing to lose, this would have been different, but we are talking about the Olympics. Olympians are held to a much higher standard and are on strict notice regarding substances. And on top of that, she was on the verge of becoming an inspiration to many black young girls. Because of this 👈, I think more people were harsh and extremely disappointed with her because she was a representation for many others.
When I was a freshman in college, I was very anxious with my roommates drinking or smoking in the room. And although my attitudes towards substances is much more lax, at the same time I couldn’t afford to get caught with drugs in my dorm. I didn’t want to lose the privilege of my housing tuition and the huge opportunity to live free away from home. To add on, it’s protocol for many other jobs to require drug tests. This was one of those instances where short term gratification definitely wasn’t worth it.
Sha’Carri took full accountability for her actions which I had to respect hands down. As someone who unfortunately had a surprise bad trip (despite experimenting 3 other times and being fine💀), you just know when you crossed the limit with what your inputing into your body and have to be aware of your own faults. It sucks when it happens, you feel ashamed, and most of the time you can’t do anything to change it other than just acknowledging it (publicly for Sha’Carri ☹️). In Sha’Carri’s case, it cost her a HUGE dent in her career goal that I’m even just sad for. You can even tell she’s really beating herself for her mistakes (self shame is real). She was dealing with the worst and best moment of her life all in the public eye.
She wasn’t necessarily “living life” with the weed as she was using it to alleviate pain (which many others have done before). But again, this goes back to how complex things are and how some mechanisms don’t deserve the hard “dumb” label (though we do dumb things too). Additionally, because her life was at a moment of being “established” at the age of 21, she essentially had so much to lose, and no room for error. And although she’s not your average 21 year old, is it still right for a 21 year old to have this much pressure in the first place? And are we still able to use up our free mistakes? Can we let people breath?
Official Answer
It’s still a no. Literally nothing in this country is free and most mistakes will have a consequence (unless you’re rich). It doesn’t help that being 18 (at least in NY) is the official age and is legally considered an adult. And although being an “adult” doesn’t necessarily equate to being fully responsible, there’s always a universal expectation that we should abide by: mistakes have consequences.
Does that mean I’m going be super duper cautious, paranoid, of what I do and how I live life? It depends on what I do, but for the most part, NO. I wouldn’t have changed or grown as a person if it weren’t for those cringey, embarrassing, emotional, but memorable, and sometimes fun moments. And, honestly despite the pain these memories may bring, there’s a beauty to being young: you live and you learn. Mistakes are inevitable. I’m still rooting for Sha’Carri because, we’ve all been there before and I have sympathy for the girl. But we also need more black female athletes like her.
Also, the surprising support she got on Twitter really blew me away. I honestly think it’s because a bunch of people love pot 😆 and are trying to take down the stigma surrounding it. But, I am annoyed that people are making this a race issue. And I’m one be a huge advocate for race (Afro Latina here), but I think this just comes down to her knowing the rules of being an Olympian. Anyone would and should have gotten penalized.
And the fact that people are threatening to boycott, it’s disappointing considering there are other black (and female) Olympians competing that should also receive attention. I think at this point people are dragging and exaggerating this situation despite her taking accountability and calling it a day. It seems like they haven’t accepted that she shouldn’t run (and social media is still going off). And as of now, it seems like a situation that should have been dead, has been egged on/instigated by the public, and has led to even bigger twitter feuds.
But on a last note, how impressive was it that Sha’Carri was able to run with weed in her system? The majority of people who have tried it can agree it slows you down COMPLETELY. She probably smoked it hours ago, and the last bit was in her system. But she still ran super fast. Regardless, she’s still that girl to me.
