Sunday, December 09, 2007

Liquor and Its Discontents

Those who drink more booze than is good for them, whether addicted alcoholics or not, react across a broad spectrum of behaviors and physical consequences. No doubt genetics play a role in this. I appear to have been blessed with good equipment in this regard, which is why I'm healthier today than I have a right to be. This comes to mind because I just got off the phone with someone who was dealt a bad deck and at 50 already has major health issues brought about by alcohol abuse.

It makes no sense that he should suffer more than I. So many things in life make no sense to the rational mind. I call it luck of the draw; others would say God's will. But my friend, with a kid starting college and his own business he now has little energy to run, is in a personal and financial crisis. He gets very down on himself for "wasting his life drinking," as he puts it. If he gets through this, however, he may be able to come to his past with a different perspective.

I have as many good memories of drinking as bad ones, which is not the sort of thing alcohol counselors like to hear. But I was never a very good "treatment student." Try suggesting the exchange of the Lord's Prayer with a Buddhist chant in an AA meeting ha ha. I'm an existentialist, which means I take full responsibility for bad behavior and don't take the excuse of being powerless or a victim. I know how addiction works: a little like gravity. But you don't have to throw yourself off the cliff in the first place.

At any rate, it's sad to see my friend suffering so much. He's got a lot to live for and I hope the gods of fate cut him a break.

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