Is it an identity or is it  a code of ethics? Neither. It is  the basic belief  that unites the straightedge community. The individual is sacred. The part of the soul the can be irrevocably altered by drug and alcohol abuse is spared. The state of mind that can be attained when justification of flesh, and drug consumption is not all consuming and frees the mind to think of other things. Think of things until you wish you could forget that societal problems ever existed , and you begin to understand why  people would want to get away into their own private existence by whatever means necessary, chemical or otherwise; and yet, you still keep active. Thinking, writing, going to shows, and helping people while trying to fins some solutions.  Straightedge doesn’t make you a better person, you make yourself a better person. By changing thoughts and hopes into action and leaving the scene and the gang mentality far away from your existence, you can achieve a peace within because you know who you are and what you value. It’s so easy to get caught up in the Hardcore scene. It happens to me too.  I know way too many people that use HC as their getaway from the real world on a regular basis. The bickering, gossiping, and high school nonsense filled scene. It’s funny that so many of us used straightedge as a means of escape from junior high school and high school and then find ourselves in the perpetual senior class of  Harder than YOU High School. One day, I would love to see all these people who talk about Hardcore unity to stop gossiping and start the revolution we are always talking about and then maybe we could try to achieve some type of unity. That’s my new year’s resolution anyway and until then I am going to be as busy as possible doing rather than talking. Find someone to help, your community is dying for it. Literally.

This is an article from the very first solstice in 1994:

         Once upon a time there was a straight-edge show at a theater in Ybor City.  There were many children standing outside participating in their nightly ritual of donning the straight-edge X.   This group is reminiscent of a secret club, yet this club has no secret password, just a thick, black straight edge X, worn upon the hands of all it's loyal members.  The secret coven's leader, armed with his wand, a permanent black marker, circulates amongst his loyal followers marking their hands.   This club is easy to join, and the rules are easy to abide by, at first-no drinking, smoking, drinking, or using drugs. Most members do not eat meat either.   Sadly, few members stay in the club for long, giving into peer pressure or their own desires.   These short term members are the people who have given the straight-edge scene a bad reputation.

     One such example...I was talking to a former SXE "friend" and he asks me, between puffs on his fifth cigarette of the hour, why I wasn't wearing my Krishna beads.   I replied simply because they did not match what I was wearing (superficial, I know, but the truth).   He retorts, just before extinguishing his cancer stick into the already overflowing ash tray, "Yeah, I went through that phase, too."   This boy, one whom six weeks earlier was thrusting X-marked hands into the faces of others and getting into fights over his principles, is a prime example of why the SXE scene is getting bad mouthed by outsiders. Thus, many outsiders presume SXE is all about closet smokers, drinkers, and drug abusers.   Straight-edge is not merely a "phase", but a way of life.   SXE not only promotes health, enlightenment and purity of yourself, but it's also about helping others to do the same.

     Unfortunately SXE is all too often about wearing the X on your hand and the Krishna beads around your neck.   I wish that this lifestyle could exist without the stereotypes, superficial nonsense, and underlying politics.   There are many people entering the SXE scene because it is currently trendy to be drug free.   Although this is a positive trend, it is one that is difficult for the typical American youth to follow due to over exposure to drugs, alcohol and violence at home, school, and on the television.   Once this trend ends, the people will also end their devotion to the straight-edge lifestyle. Point being, they may have been straight for a while but they never had the edge.

 Don't misunderstand me, I am proud of who I am and what I believe in.   I genuinely respect all people who are committed to live by these standards in today's society.   SXE, defines the beliefs and ideas I have chosen to live by and gives them an understood name.   I want people to understand the difference between straight and SXE.