What Good Has Ever Come From Alcohol?

What Good Has Ever Come From Alcohol?

My family, like many (too many) has been impacted by tragedy and misery because of alcohol. The statistics are staggering –

·         In the United States alone, six people per day die of alcohol poisoning; alcoholism is the third leading cause of lifestyle-related cause of death (after tobacco and unhealthy diet)

·         Excessive alcohol users lose an average of 30-years of life compared to non-drinkers

·         And an average of 40% of hospital beds in the country are used to treat health conditions related to alcoholism!

·         Every day in America 29 people die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver - this is one death every 50 minutes, 24 hours-a-day, 365 days-a-year, year-in, year-out

·         The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $44 billion

·         In 2016, 10,497 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for 28% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States

·         In 2016, of the 1,233 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years, 214 (17%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver

·         In 2016, more than 1 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics – that’s 1% of the 111 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year

·         At epidemic levels, as much as 17% of men and 8% of women in the population will meet the criteria for alcoholism in their lifetime

·         According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, more than 4,700 people die every year as a result of teenage alcohol use

·         Over 50% of American youths between the ages of 12 to 20 have tried alcohol, but their young age, encouragement from peers, and still-developing brains increase the chances of developing a dependence on alcohol, especially if there are environmental and mental health risk factors present, such as a bad home situation, stress related to school and social life, etc.

·         A 2017 study reported that one in every six teenagers binge drinks, but only 1% of parents believe their teenager does

·         As many as 21% of high school students engaged in binge drinking within the past month, and almost 90% of the total alcohol that teenagers consume is a result of binge drinking

o   Binge drinking is not simply drinking a lot of alcohol in a short amount of time; it is the process of deliberately consuming more alcohol than the body can metabolize. Since men and women have different metabolic rates, the definition of binge drinking for men is consuming five alcoholic beverages within two hours, and for women, it is four drinks in two hours. The University of Rochester Medical Center warns that this kind of drinking causes the blood alcohol level to rise far above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

o   The inability of the body to fully process this much alcohol in the blood leads to far more than just intoxication. Binge drinking causes dizziness, loss of motor coordination, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and loss of consciousness. If a person vomits while unconscious, the vomit can block their airway, leading to death by suffocation.

·        While it is an exceptional danger for teenagers, adults are no less vulnerable. One in six adults binge drinks at least four times a month, drinking as many as six drinks in a single two-hour period. Binge drinking occurs among men twice as much as it does women. The CDC found that in 2013, nearly 1.4 million people under the age of 20 took part in heavy drinking practices, consuming five drinks or more at least five times in a single month.

As tragic and preventable as alcohol deaths, alcohol-related hospitalization, alcohol poisoning, and binge drinking are, the related fallout in almost every other aspect of American life is detrimentally impacted because of alcohol. Consider this partial list of alcohol related consequences –

·         Unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and babies, abandoned children

·         Promotes additional abortions

·         Abuse of every flavor

·         Premature death

·         Divorce

·         Lack of clarity, confusion, stupidity, loss of intelligence

·         Fornication, adultery and other sexual deviations or perversions

·         Health problems and associated medical costs

·         Unwarranted mistakes

·         Errors of judgement

·         Unnecessary misery

·         Hopelessness

·         Assault and battery  

·         Suicide

·         Broken families

·         Unhappiness

·         Bankruptcy, loss of income, loss of wealth

·         Addiction

·         Misplaced confidence, overstated bravado, exaggeration

·         Lack of humility, increased pride

·         Misjudgment

·         Criminality, law breaking

·         Argument provoking, contention

·         Discouragement

·         Indulgence

·         Deceit

·         Destruction – self, property, relationships, businesses

·         Loss of employment

·         Accidents – fire, auto, gunshot, slip and fall, etc.

·         Embarrassing use of social media

·         Belligerence  

·         Theft and robbery

·         Delinquency of minors

·         Distortion of facts, truth, reality

·         Preventable disease  

With an open mind, honestly ask yourself these questions –

1.      What good or virtuous benefit has ever come from alcohol?

2.       If any goodness can be identified, does the ‘good’ from alcohol offset in the least degree any significant portion of the enormity of destruction and mayhem alcohol is responsible for?

3.      Does the totality of alcohol goodness (if any) even slightly offset the mayhem and tragedy it produces on a daily basis?

4.      Would the world be a better place, or worse place if alcohol were completely eradicated from all facets of society?

5.      Honestly, what would be lost, or gained if there were no alcohol consumption in civilization starting today and forever more?

Maybe the single most blatantly obvious aspect about the endless tragedy and misery produced by alcohol consumption is this – all, (ALL) of it is completely preventable! Alcohol consumption is a selfishly motivated choice. Alcohol costs are a financial waste; an intellectual waste; a health waste; a waste of life; a waste of humanity; a moral waste; a family waste; a friendship waste… It doesn’t build up anything! It tears down and destroys everything it touches! It adds no intrinsic or lasting value to anything worthwhile in life! It’s a spiraling drain and a devastating drag on society – from the individual to the family to the neighborhood, from the community to the nation, from church organizations to businesses to governments. It is a poison, a cancer, a drug, an epidemic, a deliberate abuse of common sense, a brazen evil! It helps no one, it hurts everyone!

Why is the world so enamored or mesmerized with protecting it, promoting it, encouraging it, and blinded to its reoccurring and promising negative devastation? Why do we so casually turn a blind eye to it? Why do we continue to tolerate it like the common cold. Why do we accept a triage of dime store Band-Aids and Neosporin to treat a global epidemic worse than the Black Death plague?

How can we initiate a positive change to turn the tide of devastation caused by alcohol? Here’s a few thoughts (please add more) –

·         Teach abstinence to our children

·         Teach the known consequences of devastation from alcohol

·         Set the example that life is better, healthier and that people live longer without alcohol

·         Teach that life to easily livable without alcohol ever

·         Teach that casual and social alcohol use are as dangerous as alcohol abuse

·         Teach that greater self-control is achieved through abstinence

·         Teach that peer or social pressure is never a good reason to choose alcohol

·         Teach that mature and adult decisions are not the same thing, that adult decisions are not necessarily responsible decisions

·         Teach that a decision to consume alcohol is purely selfish motivation

·         Teach that our decisions impact others – sometimes many others for generations

·         Teach that the bad decision to consume alcohol always leads to several other bad decisions

·         Promote laws that limit or eliminate alcohol use

 

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Wm. Calvin Hughes | Lake Elsinore, CA | December 15, 2019