Although here in the states we like to think we have all the keys to life; is it really so? We've got our own little culture here, and whether it is productive or not is completely up for debate, but what isn't up for debate is that there are lots of different ways to live life.

While here in the states we have some hard and fast rules on drinking alcohol, in other countries like France these rules are far different.

We seem to take for granted here that 21 is the age for people to start drinking, but is this a cultural construct or a truly effective age to start consumption of alcohol?

Back to France and we can see kids as young as 7 starting to drink wine with their dinner, albeit in a watered down fashion. Parents happily get their children involved in the nightly ritual in a way that can be handled by their young bodies. While this may seem "wrong" in our culture, it seems to actually pay some smart dividends.

France's rate of alcohol abuse is far lower than that of the states, and this one fact alone should be enough to make us sit back and take a second look at our cultural constructs.

What is our real purpose with our laws on the consumption of alcohol? Isn't it simply to help protect ourselves from the insidious abuses that can come from this beverage? And if that isn't the goal, what is?

Sometimes it seems like we are so enamored with our own self constructed ideas and laws that we aren't even willing to take a second look at the regulations that we ourselves have created. This seems like an even worse abuse than of the abuse of alcohol; the abuse of control.

But back to wine drinking; is it truly something to be avoided, or something to be controlled? Wouldn't the practice of allowing younger and younger adults to drink bring about a new burst in sector of discount wine delivery?

Although we don't allow "child labor" in this country, we happily let children take jobs as young as 14. Does this not make them part of the workforce; and by extension adult in their own ability to choose their path in life?

I won't pretend to know the answers to these questions. I only ask these questions so that we may all be willing to examine our culture objectively so that we are able to move our communities forward in a productive way. And isn't that really our goal?