Shaken Not Stirred

SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

Alcohol...the use and abuse

Let me begin this subject by assuring the readers that I am not going to preach against drinking alcohol and I am not going to call it a sin. What I am going to do is be completely honest, give you my opinion and present some facts. And facts, we should agree, can speak very loudly for themselves.

I Googled “alcohol statistics”and found over 800 direct links and easily as many as one hundred links attached to each of the sites. I searched within just one of those to find that within my state, Kentucky, there are fifty cities listed, each having at least one alcohol treatment center. We all know there are several treatment centers per city, but let’s do some math and conservatively say that there are only two treatment centers for every major city. That means there are 5,000 treatment centers in Kentucky alone. Using the same figure for the rest of America, that would mean that there could easily be 250,000 alcohol treatment centers in America. Even people in denial will surely admit there are a lot of problems related to alcohol.

According to the website, www.drug-rehabs.org/alcohol-statistics.php, alcohol is the number one drug problem in America.

For those of you who have never had a drink, this article will encourage your to maintain your sobriety. Those who now drink and feel able to control the powerful influence of alcohol you should always re-evaluate your thoughts as part of your decision making process.

Statistics tell us what we already suspect from experience. Within the website, http://www.marininstitute.org/Youth/alcohol_youth.htm I found some facts that everyone should know regardless of what they believe. For example, according to the number of reported cases only:

•Alcohol is involved in 50% of all driving fatalities.

•Over 15 million Americans are dependent on alcohol. 500,000 are between the age of 9 and 12.

•In the United States, every 30 minutes someone is killed in an alcohol related traffic accident.

•43% of Americans have been exposed to alcoholism in their families.

•Four in ten criminal offenders report alcohol as a factor in violence.

•Among spouse violence victims, three out of four incidents were reported to have involved alcohol use by the offender.

The numbers are staggering and what little I shared, as reported facts, is sufficient to prove that alcohol can be extremely dangerous. Low self esteem and lack of self control should be addressed anytime we talking about addictions of any kind.

Rather than ask you to look at yourself first, I will tell you about my experiences with alcohol. Growing up I began to drink in high school mostly from the desire to be part of my community.

Most of the kids that I went to school with were experimenting with drinking. I found that I enjoyed losing inhibition but I rarely had self control and often would drink too much. I can say with much remorse that, when I reached the age of responsibility for myself and others in a car, I did drink and drive several times.

Low self esteem was never a noticeable factor in my decision to drink even though it is clearly reported to be a significant component is deciding whether to drink or not.

I cannot say whether I was, or am, in denial or not…I do not know. I was always fairly popular and got good grades. The overriding issue seemed to be the temporary sense of happiness that I experienced when I would drink. It was easier for me to flirt with girls and I would make a fool of myself thinking perhaps that I was being interesting, entertaining, or showing off.

In social settings I know, from experience, that you can overreact when you drink; I know that you can become physically angry when you drink. I know that you can act very ungodly when you drink. Worst of all I have had a car wreck while drinking. Fortunately no one was hurt. That does not, however, remove the personal stigma of stupidity for that night.

I also know what I learned was that the negative issues were within me and alcohol simply brought them to the surface. I do not blame alcohol. I do not blame the advertisers who spent over two billion dollars to make drinking look like it makes life more fun, because in turn, we as Americans, said yes to the ads and spent over 90 billion dollars buying alcohol.*

Alcohol can be enjoyed in moderation but few people I’ve met can do that. It usually is all or nothing. I know there are many churches that preach against alcohol in any amount. Some churches even declare that Jesus did not turn water into wine.

When I look in the mirror I know that I cannot blame anyone for my decisions or my life. The “Victim” mentality is always linked to blaming others. And yes, there can be others who have made terrible decisions, while drinking, that have affected my life and hurt me, my family, my career…but no one can hurt your status in eternity but yourself, and that is the only status that matters.

I am now fifty four years old. I still drink wine or beer. I avoid hard liquor. I am very careful about how much I drink. I know God lives inside me and is affected by every decision I make and I have chosen rugged self control as part of my lifestyle. That is a spiritual quality that dominates everything including how much food I eat, how long I sleep, how much I drink etc.

Many of the Christians I’ve met are ashamed to admit that they drink but most of them do and ninety billion dollars spent on alcohol in American is more that all the atheists and agnostics could ever drink in a hundred lifetimes.

The two questions that I can personally answer are:

“Is drinking wrong for everyone?” The answer is, “No.”

“Can drinking ruin anybody’s life?” The answer is, “Yes.”

As in all things, we must understand why we do what we do. If we drink to avoid the pain of life, we are creating an escape that’s just looking for an addiction. I am not a therapist, counselor, specialist, or any other “title” that gives me the right to give anyone advice on their drinking or sobriety. I am only a man who has dedicated his life to serving God with the talents that I have been give. That means that I serve others with those same gifts.

I will probably continue to enjoy wine with a meal or a cold beer on a hot summer night and I will also continue to monitor my intake of everything remembering, as Jesus said, ”Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Matthew 15:11

*http://www.marininstitute.org/Youth/alcohol_youth.htm

Submitted by Stephen S. Sawyer

1160 words

09-10-2010

Since Jan 1^st, 2000

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