Has anybody noticed that
alcoholics are not necessarily over forty anymore?
Permit me to be cliché but
aren’t they usually smelly old guys falling over themselves and slurring their
speech? Oh, you thought so too?
Well, ever heard this
little jingle?
...and that’s the reason why
The rum will never die
Because the young ones are born before
the old ones die...
I’m putting my fingers to these
keys to ring the bell that the young ones are in fact born; they are teenagers
and adolescents and social butterflies under thirty.
It would be incorrect to
refer to this as underage drinking because Dominica’s laws as they exist right
now basically state that drinking over the age of 12 is fine. Yep, look it up.
But while we shake our
heads at those old guys slumped in drains after sunset, are we amused by those
younger alcoholics who, in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week,
are steeped in alcohol in the hot Caribbean sun?
No joke, a lot of young
alcoholics don’t realise that they are. Is it because the line has been blurred
between social drinking and blatant alcoholism? It is, actually. I see it all
the time. A group of friends go out and the party doesn’t stop until someone is
passed out in a puddle of puke on a sidewalk.
They look forward to
recounting how completely toasted they were the past weekend and the crazy
stuff they did. They laugh about how many friends it took to take them home and
how many drinks they had.
Are we amused by them
because alcoholism among youth has become normal? Yes, that might also be a
reason. Bartenders don’t bat an eye; shopkeepers see dollar signs; friends see
normalcy and parents are oblivious.
No need to even debate that
point. Just cruise around the city on the weekend or at community taverns in
rural areas and identify the jester and the life of the party. Are they drunk?
Most likely. Are they young? Yep.
Forget that, think back on
the last time a group of young friends planned a little get-together. Was
alcohol the focus? Indeed. It’s their Whatsapp profile photos and posted on their
Facebook walls: drinks drinks drinks...
Even a lot of music coming
out these days are focused on drinking until oblivion.
Instead of taking positive
steps, though, they work harder to hide their dependency. They will be those
who pressure others to drink all the time and suggest taking drinks to every
event. They walk around barely holding on to real life just biding their time
until the next excuse to get drunk. They’re able to fool those around them,
even you and I. Sometimes, sadly, even themselves for a few hours.
Do they think that they
have enough time to kick the habit because they’re young? That’s laughable.
Addiction respects no one.
Don’t they see that their
bodies were not designed as flasks to convert blood to alcohol? Do they think
that brain damage, liver damage and kidney failure only affect those over 50?
Don’t they see the bloat, spots, bleary eyes and dehydration?
Don’t they feel their
hearts struggling to cope?
Have
they consciously decided to take on the risks of mouth, oesophagus, throat, liver
and/or breast cancer?
Further, what kind of
contributions are these youths making while chained to a bottle? What kind of
professionals can they even be? What type of sisters, brothers, uncles, mothers,
friends are they?
Importantly, what will the
next five, ten or fifteen years be like for them?
There’s shame in denial,
not in getting help.
#wellsaid / writings needs to be all over to many young men out there are always out there doing the wrong I recall once traveling and hanging out and Dominicans were labled as peeps who love rum felt bad hearing such but it's a huge prob here you've hit the nail on the head.c.wins
ReplyDeleteJarna Hector, that was beautiful. I've argued about this more times than I care to remember. Personally I don't see the appeal, I've had alcohol a few times and while it made me more confident; I couldn't help but feel a bit foolish about some of the things that I said while under the influence. Being sober has become very unpopular because I guess we'd have to accept responsibility for our actions.... No more blaming it on the alcohol.
ReplyDeleteCraig Laurent - culture is shifting, cool is the new rule, stuff like that is becoming the norm n it's getting worst
ReplyDelete