More and more I am finding myself surrounded by and deeply effected by alcohol. And I have had just about enough of it. I look at my aging generation and all I see are a bunch of kids who can only entertain themselves with this drug. And my regular choice of sobriety is further and further alienating me from my peers.
It's frustrating because I am the one who gets ragged on for "not having fun" hanging out with a bunch of borderline alcoholics. Get chastised for only attending daylight rugby festivities, or opting to stop dancing and catch the last train home (for $1.60) rather than anti-up the $25 cab fare. I talk with friends online and can smell their acrid breath over the internet they are so stinking drunk. And it's just gross. And I have had enough of it.
People say, it's not just your generation, alcohol has always been used like it is now, it's just that now you are old enough to be part of it. Further, people always died of all sorts of liver disease and alcohol related stuff, but before it was called demons, a weakness of spirit, or just accounted to whatever, "God said it was his time." And these are very true and valid point, of course I was never part of the alcohol using society until 19 or there abouts, so I am fairly new on the scene.
But its getting gross. The NHS in England is stepping up efforts to help people drink smarter not harder (uhh...) so I guess I'm being exposed to a lot of media just now about alcohol, use and abuse. Media that is of course affecting my thoughts about the drug. But I'm sure that there is more going on in my life and the worlds of my close friends than media hysteria. It's difficult to gage, knowledge, surveys, stats can be overwhelming without help interpreting them, putting them in context and stuff.
But even this media is troubling. It talks about younger people being admitted to hospital with various liver diseases etc, about how much different age cohorts drink and how it compares to surveys from the past. And it talks about what individuals should do. Of course William Pitt, the youngest Prime Minister of England, died of "liver disease."
Unfortunately NHS's advice is know your limits and know your units. But there seems to be very little suggestions about what to do with this knowledge. It's great to know I drank 15 units of alcohol last night; sweet some kids will think, I'm going to see if I can beat it. And what are "my" limits? Most people think of a limit as the outward boundary, the final edge of ability. Feeling hungover or puking might be, by some, considered a limit, but it can often take more than 15 units of alcohol for people. This 15 units seems like way over a healthy intake limit. Becoming so drunk as to fall and get injured, or get alcohol poisoning and require tax-payer dollars in medical establishments to have bones set and stomaches pumped, is definitely a sign that you have had too much to drink and "reached your limit". But again this is takes well more than the recommended 4 units a day. So talking about limits should not really be about the limits of your body.
Rather it's a long term limit these media watchdogs are referring to. Maintaining a level of consumption that will not cause long term irreparable damage.
Really the message needs to promote and build up people's strength to make a choice. To choose to drink less. To choose to engage activities that are not consuming drugs and sitting around. To choose to support their friends and family members who want more from a clearer vision of the world. One that is unblocked, unfuzzied by drugs. Maybe even empower us to choose to drink. For too many it isn't even a choice, its just a default state of being.
I think globally we need to help empower each other to recognize that we get to choose. We get to choose to pray. We get to choose to work. We get to choose to dance on Fridays. We get to choose to find means of empowerment. And we don't have to fully bend to the will of other people choice, that we can choose to find out more about other peoples reasons. Other people choices.
But we need to begin freeing ourselves from the attitude "I'm free to choose how I live my life and you can't belittle me for that choice, and you can't take the choice away from me" If our choices are affecting emotions on other people, so strong that they would take legal measures to take away your choice, you should think carefully about how you force others to live with your choices.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Alcohol is indeed one of the greatest evils and the worst drug of our time.
And it is a huge problem here in Ireland as well, especially among the younger people, who do not even take any effort to enjoy a drink. All they want is getting drunk, as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
I don't understand why, and blame the educational system and the parents in equal measure for the failure of preparing the young people for life in a proper way.
For me personally alcohol has never had any attraction, not even when I was younger. I might drink a glass of wine or two with a meal now and then, but my main drinks are water and tea.
It is strange that governments all over the world spend billions in a futile fight against the illegal drugs, while alcohol is allowed to be sold everywhere and to everyone.
The main reason is certainly that the drinks industry is very strong, has lobbyists everywhere and many politicians (most of whom are heavy drinkers themselves) in hock to them.
If there is a solution, it can only come from the grassroots, with more and more people refusing to take part in the drinking 'culture'. The more people see sense and don't drink, the less profits the alcohol industry will have. And - as with so many things - in the end it all comes down to money. If they could not make money with alcohol, they would not produce it.
Post a Comment